The Mayor of Montreal said the plan proposed by the Coalition Avenir Quebec to reduce immigration to Quebec is not feasible.
Valerie Plante said that given the labour shortage in the province, and in Montreal, cutting the number of immigrants by more than 10,000 is difficult to accept.
CAQ leader Francois Legault has promised to reduce the number of immigrants to Quebec from 50,000 to 40,000.
Plante said Monday, at a news conference with Liberal leader Philippe Couillard, that many job postings in the city of Montreal remain unfilled because of a lack of qualfied candidates.
"The percentage of unoccupied jobs is already three percent in Montreal. So that is already a problem and I share that same problem with mayors across the province. This is something we talk a lot about," said Plante.
Plante said those concerned about immigrants needed to focus on the real issue: ensuring newcomers adapt to Quebec.
"The question is about what needs to be done to support good integration through French classes, being more agile. being more flexible, working with the Chambers of Commerce in Montreal and other cities," said Plante.
"We need to give other options for immigrants to integrate better into the workforce and as well as society."
Defending their leader
Meanwhile CAQ candidates were defending their party's stance on immigration following Legault's misstatements over the weekend, when Legault was forced to admit on Saturday that he did not know how long it took immigrants to become citizens.
Despite this, on Monday Francois Bonnardel said that Legault actually is an expert on immigration and knows the dossier very well.
He then warned the public at large to be wary of any leader that pretends to know everything.
"Of course Mr. Legault is an expert on immigration. We explained our idea two years ago: we want to receive 40,000 immigrants, we want them to speak French, we want the integration to be a success, and we want all immigrants to have a job, so for us it's important to have the negotiation after the election if we have the power. So we'll negotiate with Ottawa after that," said Bonnardel.
