Quebec Premier François Legault again pushed the federal government for more power over immigration – and for more of that immigration to the francophone province consisting of French-speaking foreign nationals – for his francophone province in late April.
At a news conference to announce the Musée National de l’Histoire du Québec in Quebec City, Legault spoke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau through the news media, reminding him of his commitment made in mid-March to grant Quebec more power over immigration to that province.
The Quebec premier’s comments come in the wake of a call by a minority party leader, the Parti Québécois’ (PQ) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, to cut back on temporary immigration to the province in a bid to reduce the demand on the rising cost of housing there.
“If we have 44 per cent more people on the street who do not have a roof over their heads, then if we are no longer able to afford housing and that impoverishes the vast majority of households, we will have to do something,” Plamondon has reportedly said.
“We can’t just sit idly by, and, unfortunately, that’s what the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is doing.”
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Legault told reporters that it isn’t necessary to put a freeze on all temporary immigration to the province over which Quebec has control. The province currently has an estimated 560,000 temporary residents and these are considered to be putting stress on the Quebec’s educational and healthcare systems as well as driving up housing costs.
“I still think that we can manage, with the federal government, to get more power to better defend our identity,” Legault reportedly said.
“It doesn’t make sense to have 560,000 temporary immigrants, it doesn’t make sense. We do not have the welcoming capacity (for them) plus 180,000 asylum seekers. Mr. Trudeau said he would look at different ways to transfer power or have a pre-approval by the Quebec government.”
The premier and prime minister are reportedly scheduled to meet again to discuss immigration to the province before the end of June.
“It’s important that Mr. Trudeau makes a concrete gesture to reduce this number,” said Legault.
Legault has repeatedly stated he will hold the line on immigration and made it clear his government is deeply-committed to ensuring the survival of the French language.
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The premier has gone so far as to put forth proposals to limit all economic immigration to the province to French-speaking immigrants by 2026.
“As premier of Quebec, my first responsibility is to defend our language and our identity,” said Legault. “During the past few years, the French language has been in decline in Quebec. Since 2018, our government has acted to protect our language, more so than any previous government since the adoption of Bill 101 under the Levesque government.
“But, if we want to turn the tide, we must do more. By 2026, our goal is to have almost entirely francophone economic immigration. We have the duty, as Québécois, to speak French, to daily pass on our culture and to be proud of it.”
Temporary workers who come to the province on work permits and international students in Quebec who are there on study permits often later seek to immigrate to Canada through either the federal Express Entry system’s Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) of the provinces.
IRCC Readying Temporary Immigration Levels Plan For September
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has already announced Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will introduce a levels plan for temporary immigration sometime in September.
He has already placed a cap on study permit applications, limiting these to 606,250 this year, in a move which is expected to reduce the number of new study permits issued this year by 40 per cent.
“The intent of these Instructions is to ensure the number of study permit applications accepted into processing by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration … within the scope of the instructions does not exceed 606,250 study permit applications for one year beginning on the date of signature,” the Canada Gazette reported on Feb. 3.
Economists, though, warn that a drop in immigration to Canada will make the average age of Canadian residents older and will have a ripple effect on Ottawa’s coffers.
“Immigration has long been seen as one way to help blunt the economic impact from the wave of people leaving the labour force as the relatively large baby boom generation continues to hit retirement age,” has noted RBC senior economist Nathan Janzen.
“Those retirements lower tax revenues for governments while demand for services like healthcare and social security accelerates, creating a large funding gap.”
In his report, How Lowering The Number Of Non-Permanent Residents Will Impact Canada’s Economy, the economist points out that Canada’s long-term demographic challenges aren’t going to go away.
“Labour shortages have been easing as high interest rates slow hiring demand, but they’ll be back again after the short-run economic cycle as the share of the population hitting retirement age continues to rise,” he cautions.
And Janzen also doubts that immigrants are really the cause of the housing crisis.
“Slower population growth might slow house price and rent growth in future years but isn’t likely to solve Canada’s affordability problem,” he notes.
“The shortage of housing in Canada … is decades in the making and predates the recent surge in population growth. As we take away some of the housing or rental demand in the near-term, we’re also taking away potential labour supply in construction and building activities that will help build more houses.”
