Legault’s government and the Parti Quebecois clashed again Sunday, via the media, over the issue of immigration borders. The leader of the Canadian Labor Party confirms that an “unprecedented social crisis” threatens Quebec due to the unprecedented number of foreigners residing in the province.
In a long message posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, Paul St. Pierre Plamondon claims he wants to denounce the “hypocrisy” of some “media and business elites” who avoid “naming these results.”
He says: “The housing crisis, the French crisis, the basic services crisis,” and receiving an unprecedented number of permanent and temporary immigrants raises fears of a three-dimensional disaster.
He first points to the new threshold of 64,600 permanent immigrants for next year, announced this week by Immigration Minister Christine Frechette. He said it was “a clear violation of an electoral promise that was widely implemented,” while Prime Minister François Legault stressed during the election campaign that a “Louisian transformation” awaits Quebec beyond the threshold of 50,000 permanent immigrants.
Next, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is concerned about the unprecedented number of temporary immigrants residing in Quebec – there are now approximately 466,000 in the province of Quebec – whose tangible effect is to strangle household finances.
However, if, according to some, the increase in thresholds made it possible to solve the problem of labor shortages, Paul St. Pierre Plamondon emphasizes that there is no data to this effect and that this theory has been denied “by many economists.”
Thus, “by bringing in a new worker, we are also bringing in a consumer who will have needs like the rest of the population,” he says.
The Legault government is responding
The Parti Québécois calls for lowering the thresholds for permanent immigrants and for Quebec’s sovereignty, “in order to have its own policies in favor of its linguistic and cultural reality.”
Paul St. Pierre Plamondon concludes: “There is no connection between the number of people we want to welcome and our level of openness.”
In a post on social media
Photo by Edouard Plante Frechette, Press Archive
Immigration Minister Christine Frechette
Without addressing the issue of the number of permanent immigrants Quebec is preparing to receive, she stated, “We are ensuring that those who come contribute fully to our society, while mastering our common language.”
Regarding the issue of asylum seekers, Christine Frechette reiterates her party’s position, which is to better distribute them to other provinces and to compensate Ottawa for the amounts allocated to receive them. Quebec also wants the federal government to issue work permits to asylum seekers more quickly and review its visa administration.
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