Despite the disappointment of French-speaking communities outside Quebec, the Canadian Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, believes that it is better to set a “realistic” French-speaking immigration target, rather than “putting a figure to please everyone. world “.
This is an attitude that we would like to be more widespread in politics. How many promises were not kept because they were unrealistic to begin with, but were made anyway simply to please voters? Too often we prefer to apologize after the fact or blame “the former government” rather than giving the truth.
Mr. Miller explained that it was “with difficulty” that the objective of French-speaking immigration outside Quebec equivalent to 4.4% of the total new arrivals in the entire country was achieved last year. last for the first time since it was set in 2003.
In his eyes, the objective of 12% in 2024, which would gradually increase to 20% in 2036, as desired by the associations representing French-speakers outside Quebec, simply to restore their demographic weight to the level of the start of the millennium, is completely unrealistic. Even the 6% he proposes for 2024, not to mention the 7% and 8% which will follow, seem very ambitious.
To say that Immigration Canada services could be more efficient is an understatement. The fact remains that the pool of potential Francophone immigrants remains relatively limited. Over the past five years, a total of 42,470 of them have settled in the ROC.
If the 16,371 new French-speaking arrivals in 2022 were recruited “with difficulty”, we wonder how Quebec will be able to achieve the new targets set by the Legault government, even if Quebec undoubtedly offers a more attractive linguistic environment. .
The Prime Minister often gives the impression of playing the sorcerer’s apprentice when it comes to immigration. During the last election campaign, he argued that it was impossible to find 35,000 immigrants who already had sufficient knowledge of French, as proposed by the Parti Québécois, while meeting the needs of the job market. Rather, it was necessary to Frenchify them after their arrival.
Through an unexplained phenomenon, it seems that this is now possible, at least in the case of the 31,000 to 32,900 economic immigrants that the government plans to welcome in 2024 and who will have to submit to a French test before being accepted. Maybe we just had to look better. It is true that we can always multiply the exceptions that businesses will not fail to demand.
By adding the 6,500 graduates who will have benefited from the Quebec Experience Program in a French-speaking CEGEP or university, “we are completely changing the approach to permanent immigration,” rejoiced Mr. Legault. It’s like Columbus’ egg, you just had to think about it.
While he considered a threshold above 50,000 immigrants “suicidal”, as the business community insisted on, it is now possible to raise it without risk to nearly 64,000. Why do we have to be realistic when we can “put a number to please everyone”, right?
It was more difficult to resolve the case of temporary immigration, all categories combined, the explosion of which is such that we can no longer ignore its effects on linguistic dynamics. The majority of those who compose it may only be passing through, even if they may stay for years, but their volume is permanent and constantly increasing.
Out of a total of approximately 460,000, Quebec only has control over the 59,000 workers admitted under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), to whom it awards a certificate, the others coming under federal jurisdiction.
The proposed francization measures are perplexing. The test that will be imposed on those who want to renew their license after three years, with the notable exception of agricultural workers, will only be a formality and one would have to be naive to think that the federal government, as well as employers, will rush to collaborate.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, we remain faithful to the spirit of “The initiative of the century” without worrying about the concerns that are manifesting across the country, where there is fear that opening the floodgates will further aggravate the crisis of accommodation.
Quebec has long since given up trying to follow the pace imposed by Canada’s migration policies, preferring to sacrifice its demographic and political weight within the federation in order to preserve its identity.
Between two evils, you must choose the lesser, says the proverb. Trying to please everyone, however, is the best way to have both.