After a reform that had raised strong criticism, the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) shows a drastic drop in its number of candidates, according to the most recent data. For the opposition parties, this observation is that of the failure of the program, which fails to retain French-speaking immigrants as the government had promised.
According to an Access to Information request published last March, the number of candidates admitted to the PEQ, a pathway to permanent immigration for students and workers already established and speaking French, has dropped dramatically compared to to previous years. In total, whether they are graduates or workers, barely 6,000 applicants were able to obtain a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) in 2022, compared to 24,000 in 2021, i.e. four times less.
Data from the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) show that this drastic decline is reflected in each of the two categories of the PEQ, graduates and temporary workers.
In the graduate category, some 2,000 foreign students and their dependents have obtained the CSQ opening the door to permanent residence, compared to around 8,000 in 2022.
As for temporary workers, only some 4,000 have obtained their CSQ, compared to 16,000 in 2021, a year, however, it should be noted, which seems to have been abnormally good when compared with the previous ones.
The number of candidates having received a selection certificate thanks to the Quebec experience program is below MIFI forecasts. Indeed, according to the targets for 2022 of the Quebec Immigration Plan, the government aimed to select between 9,000 and 11,000 people in this program.
A failure “
Liberal MP and immigration critic Monsef Derraji called the program of “failure” on Twitter this week and invited the Coalition avenir Québec to change the rules quickly to make it less restrictive. In the House, he challenged the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, asking her if she was “proud to see Francophones leaving Quebec”.
For Mr. Derraji, Quebec “is no longer the welcoming land that attracts Francophones and Francothropes,” he argued. It’s a brain drain”. He hypothesizes that students and workers leave Quebec for the benefit of other provinces, where immigration programs are more attractive because they are faster and less complex.
The deputy of Quebec solidaire and spokesperson for immigration, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, says he is “stunned” by this drop. “It does not surprise me, in the sense that these are the consequences of the 2020 reform of the CAQ, which has, and we had predicted, really drastically limited the Quebec experience program. We have just had proof of it, ”he argued. “What shocks me is that the PEQ was a fast track for French-speaking immigrants, graduates and temporary workers, with experience of living in Quebec, in French. The door is closed to them. I find it hard to see how this is positive for Quebec. »
In the office of the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, it is maintained that “international students, particularly those who speak French, are an asset for Quebec”, without specifying what will be the fate of the PEQ. Alexandre Lahaie, the minister’s press secretary, indicated that Ms.me Fréchette and his teams “are currently analyzing certain programs to promote Francophone immigration. We will make an announcement in due course.”
A first attempt to reform the PEQ by the then minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette, raised an outcry. After consultation, a second version, which came into force in 2020, tightened the criteria to require in particular post-graduate work experience of at least one year for foreign students, which extended the deadlines.