As the housing crisis continues to grow, the Parti Québécois (PQ) will reassess its permanent immigration thresholds, currently set at 35,000 new arrivals per year.
The PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, did not want to give details and refused to say whether the PQ was considering lowering its thresholds. “We are going to redo our calculations and when we have done our work properly, we will come back to you,” he indicated at a press briefing in Alma, Wednesday, during his party’s pre-sessional caucus.
During the last election in 2022, the PQ announced that it wanted to reduce the thresholds to 35,000 permanent immigrants per year.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, however, recognized that the situation had changed a lot since then. “It’s true that during the election, not only was the housing crisis not acute and we didn’t have all the data, but the question of temporary immigration was almost peripheral. We talked all the time about permanent immigration,” he said.
There are currently more than half a million temporary immigrants in Quebec.
“Several absolutely false things”
The PQ leader makes a direct link between the number of immigrants in Quebec and the housing crisis. He also intends to follow François Legault’s government on the issue during the next parliamentary session, which begins in two weeks.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon accuses the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) of dragging its feet in the construction of new housing and of having lied to the Quebec population about immigration.
“It is a lie that more immigration is a solution to the labor shortage. The last 30 years demonstrate this. It is a lie to say that immigration solves the housing crisis,” he said.
“Several absolutely false things were said and the people who carried these lies, including the CAQ, including [la ministre de l’Immigration] Christine Fréchette, must be responsible. We cannot say anything on important subjects and then wash our hands of problems as serious as homelessness,” added the PQ leader.
Charge against Ottawa
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon also did not hold back his blows against the federal government, citing an article from The Canadian Press asserting that, according to internal documents, federal officials warned the Government of Canada two years ago , that large increases in immigration could affect housing affordability and services.
“Meanwhile, Mr. [Marc] Miller [le ministre fédéral de l’Immigration] goes into the public square and says: “no, there is no problem. They [les immigrants] will build housing themselves. “It’s a deliberate lie with full knowledge of the facts,” said the PQ leader.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently returned to the issue of immigration. He remains convinced that part of the solution to the housing crisis and the labor shortage in the construction sector lies in welcoming a greater number of immigrants.
Tuesday, before the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, Justin Trudeau reaffirmed his intention to increase the annual number of immigrants to 500,000 while expressing his desire to regain control over temporary immigration, more specifically foreign students. and temporary workers who he says have more of an impact on the housing crisis.