Parti Quebecois leader refuses to debate Quebec Solidaire MNA alone

Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (right) does not want to debate Quebec Solidaire (QS) Guillaume Cliche-Rivard (left) alone on the issue of immigration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot; Karoline Boucher

Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon does not want to debate Quebec Solidaire (QS) Guillaume Cliche-Rivard alone on the issue of immigration.

"If a television network invites the five leaders to explain their position on immigration and to debate it, Paul will be happy to be there," said PQ director of communications Louis Lyonnais, in a letter. "Paul received a similar request from [Quebec Conservative Party leader] Éric Duhaime, who wanted to debate the issue one-on-one a month ago. With four MNAs, our leader is not at the service of the other opposition parties who want to show off. His interlocutor is François Legault."

On Wednesday, after their online spat on immigration earlier in the week, Cliche-Rivard invited Plamondon to a TV debate.

"We can continue to debate by text, but I think Quebecers deserve to hear it in person. The leader of the Parti Québécois often says that it's healthy to debate and exchange ideas. That's why I'm inviting him today to formally debate immigration in a televised debate," said the Solidaire MNA in a news release.

Earlier this week, the two men engaged in a social media spat on the subject of immigration, while accusing each other of polarizing the debate.

In his news release, Cliche-Rivard criticized the fact that the PQ leader had not answered one of his questions: "Who do we exclude if we want to drastically reduce immigration to Quebec? The foreign students who are helping to make Quebec a major centre of education and research? The farm workers who work to feed Quebec? The orderlies in our health-care network? The workers who assemble wind turbine blades in Gaspé?"

Last week, Plamondon said his party would reassess its permanent immigration thresholds, currently set at 35,000 new arrivals per year, arguing that the situation had changed significantly since the last election. Instead, Quebec Solidaire is proposing permanent immigration thresholds of between 60,000 and 80,000 per year.

The PQ and QS also have opposing views on the issue of temporary immigrants. While QS claims that their increase in Quebec is linked in particular to the shortage of workers, the PQ maintains instead that, according to economists, "the effect of immigration on the labour shortage is nil."

There are currently more than half a million temporary immigrants in Quebec.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 25, 2024.