The Legault government failed on Wednesday in its attempt to make the National Assembly speak with one voice regarding immigration: Québec solidaire blocked a motion which asked the federal government to better identify and control the arrival of temporary immigrants.
The Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, was trying to follow up on the data revealed by Statistics Canada last week.
We learned that the number of temporary immigrants jumped from 322,000 to 471,000 in Quebec, between July 2022 and July 2023.
This puts a lot of pressure on the rental market and public services in Quebec.
In her motion, Minister Fréchette asked Ottawa to carry out a more frequent and effective count.
She also invited the federal government to review its policies, to respect Quebec’s reception capacity.
Québec solidaire blocked debate on the motion. The party’s parliamentary leader, Alexandre Leduc, explained that this is because his party’s amendments were rejected.
The 470,976 temporary immigrants in Quebec estimated by Statistics Canada in July are divided as follows: 146,723 asylum seekers and 324,253 study and/or work permit holders, with members of their family.
In comparison, as of July 2022, there were 93,428 asylum seekers and 228,917 study and/or work permit holders, with their family members.
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