Temporary immigration must be addressed during the multi-year consultation on immigration which will take place this fall, opposition MPs are demanding. The Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, Christine Fréchette, refused to allow this issue to be discussed during the study of her party’s budget appropriations on Thursday.
“Now, it’s temporary that we have in Quebec. So we can no longer have a good portrait of the immigrants who settle here,” said Monsef Derraji, Liberal Party spokesperson for immigration, in an interview. “The exercise will be incomplete, and the results will be skewed,” he added.
During the study of budgetary appropriations, Minister Fréchette revealed that nearly 300,000 temporary immigrants were in Quebec in December 2022.
Québec solidaire MNA Guillaume Cliche-Rivard had also asked the Minister that temporary immigration be addressed during the multi-year consultation, which will define the province’s orientations in terms of immigration between 2024 and 2027. He would like a “guideline” be established regarding the targets of temporary immigrants, including foreign students and workers.
“What I would ask you today, [c’est] a commitment together, that we can have your forecast targets temporarily, and not just permanently,” declared Mr. Cliche-Rivard during the study of the credits.
“It is obvious that the context is important when we do this kind of exercise,” replied Ms. Fréchette to the supportive MP without accepting that permanent immigration is directly at the heart of the multi-year consultation. “As for the orientations as such, for multi-year planning, this one concerns permanent immigration,” she added.
The Minister of Immigration also mentioned that temporary immigration reflects “the specific needs of businesses”.
“It’s important to ensure that companies can be agile in finding the talent they need to continue to grow,” said Ms. Fréchette.
Guillaume Cliche-Rivard has relaunched the minister on the issue on numerous occasions. “So you are not ready for us to go to a maximum, minimum threshold, that we set guidelines, that we discuss them, that the groups are there, that they talk about the reception capacity , is it a refusal? “, he added, which did not make Ms. Fréchette budge from her position.
For Monsef Derraji, temporary immigration must however be at the heart of the discussions in order to anticipate the needs of these immigrants in terms of services.
“We cannot ignore, in the development of our public policies, ranging from immigration to housing, to take into consideration the arrival of temporary immigrants, temporary workers”, he mentioned.
The deputy affirmed to have “things in preparation to push the government so that in the next multiannual consultation, to include temporary immigration”.
The Canadian Press contacted Minister Fréchette’s office on Saturday, which declined to comment on the matter.