The Bloc Québécois will use its opposition day next Tuesday to force a debate in the House on whether or not Ottawa needs to consult Quebec and the other provinces before setting its immigration targets.
The political party intends to put forward a motion so that the Commons “request[nt] the government to review its immigration targets from 2024 after consultation with Quebec, the provinces and the territories based on their reception capacity, particularly in terms of housing, health care, education, francization and transport infrastructure, all with the objective of successful immigration,” according to the wording read to journalists by Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet on Thursday.
He affirmed in the press scrum that he believes that the motion, “in principle”, “should be able to rally everyone”.
“We did not want to be too restrictive,” he declared, saying he wanted to “force a reflection in good faith”.
Freeze immigration targets?
Canada’s target is to welcome 500,000 new permanent residents per year across the country by 2025. According to a report published by Radio-Canada, the Trudeau government’s Council of Ministers is having discussions on the possibility of stabilizing or even revise this objective downward.
If the capping option were to be recommended, this would mean that there would be a pause in the increase in immigration targets which has been maintained in recent years.
The Canadian Press was not able to corroborate the information reported by the public broadcaster, which said it had spoken with half a dozen Liberal elected officials.
Asked to comment on this report, Mr. Blanchet said he wanted to maintain a certain reserve considering that no decision had been taken by the Council of Ministers.
He nevertheless maintained that the idea of stabilizing or reducing, if it materializes, would “not amount to [à] a step backwards in the political sense.”
“It’s a step backwards in the mathematical sense […] and just stopping rising is probably an interesting policy. Freezing would be an improvement. Reducing would probably be an improvement while waiting for Quebec to be able to put in place measures and choices in terms of numbers and ways that are specific to Quebec,” said the leader of the Bloc Québécois.
“Pro-immigration” and Quebecers
Usually, the debate on the opposition motion begins the same day it is tabled, scheduled for next Tuesday. The vote, however, normally takes place at a later date.
The Bloc Québécois did not wait to question the government on its receptivity to the idea of its motion to be tabled. As of Thursday, he used several of his interventions during question period to challenge the Liberals.
The Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, maintained that he is “pro-immigration” in addition to being Quebecois. “We need immigrants in the country, we need to build houses. It will take us 100,000 construction jobs. It’s not necessarily going to come from here. It’s going to take immigration,” he replied.
He, in the same breath, invited the Bloc Québécois, “if they are against immigration”, to say so “high and clear”.