The leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), François Legault, praised small countries like Switzerland and the Scandinavian states on Monday to justify his decision not to raise immigration thresholds.
During a press briefing in Outaouais, Mr. Legault gave these examples, while his opponents present diametrically opposed positions on the issue.
“Switzerland is a small, extraordinarily rich, extraordinarily dynamic country,” he said. Take the Scandinavian countries: small, extremely rich, extremely dynamic countries. Being big can be nice, but what is important is to have a quality of life for people who live in Quebec. »
The CAQ leader did not show himself worried by the prospect that the demographic weight of Quebec would decrease within the Canadian federation, failing to increase the number of immigrants received each year.
Mr. Legault wants to maintain the number of new arrivals at 50,000, even if the federal government’s objectives are much more ambitious. He repeated that at the current number, Quebec already receives, all things considered, more immigrants than the United States or France.
“It’s not an objective in itself to go up to 10, 20, 30 million people in Quebec,” he said. We are 8.6 million inhabitants, I think it’s a size that still allows us to offer quality services. »
Mr. Legault was once again pleased that with the labor shortage, the workers have “the big end of the stick” to demand better conditions and better wages.
Extreme pace
The “extreme” rhythm chosen by the federal government for the whole country will pose problems of integration in the provinces that follow it, believes the CAQ leader.
“Like a lot of other small states around the world, I don’t think we need to keep up much with the rest of Canada, which is exceptional,” he said. Canada goes to the extreme by receiving many, many. And that will pose integration challenges, I have already discussed this with my colleagues from the other provinces. »
Mr. Legault believes that a decrease in the demographic weight of Quebec in the Canadian federation should not have the effect of reducing its number of seats in the federal parliament.
“We must keep a certain weight in the House of Commons and we must respect the fact that Quebec is a nation and that it needs certain powers, for example in immigration, and for language in general,” said he said.
In the center
Mr. Legault praised the pragmatism of his position on immigration, which he also justifies by the importance of better promoting the integration of immigrants and the protection of French.
He criticized the PLQ, which wants to raise the threshold to 70,000 and the Parti Québécois, the Parti Québécois which announced Monday its intention to lower it to 35,000.
“There is a party for which it is not important the defense of French and a party for which it is not important economic growth, he said. We are balanced between the two. We are not at 70,000, we are not at 35,000, we are at 50,000.
According to Mr. Legault, beyond 50,000, the difficulty of integrating immigrants can compromise the situation of French.
“Obviously, we have to change the recipe because currently there is a decline in French,” he said.
Cellular and 5G
The CAQ has announced its intention to create a fund of 3 billion to complete the cellular network in particular. This cash will be used to stimulate private investment in the development of digital infrastructure.
“Canada is late to have 5G, to give our businesses the best for transmitting data,” he said.
The CAQ leader argued that European governments have already chosen to invest in the development of their networks. Quebec is ready to do the same to remedy the lack of capital of private companies.
“We looked at what Canadian companies plan to invest in infrastructure over the next few years and unfortunately they don’t have all the financial capacity to do so,” he said.
With its fund, the CAQ hopes to attract 4.8 billion in private investment, for a total of 7.8 billion.
“It’s a lot of money, but we think it’s a very strategic choice for Quebec to be a leader in digital,” said Mr. Legault.
By 2026, everyone will have access to the cellular network and by 2030, it will be mainly by 5G, promised Mr. Legault.