Quebec independence and complete control of immigration will save social services: PQ

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon holds a graphic as he speaks at a news conference to unveil their plan on immigration, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024 at the legislature in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press)

The Parti Quebecois (PQ) said on Monday that if Canada continues its immigration policy, independence is the only way to protect its public services.

The PQ’s “viable immigration model” includes reducing the number of non-permanent residents from 600,000 to 250,000-300,000 after four years, set permanent immigration thresholds at 35,000 per year, and declare a moratorium on permanent economic immigration from outside Quebec “in order to select permanent residents from temporary immigration, consisting of foreign students and temporary foreign workers.”

The PQ would also like to reduce the number of foreign students from 124,000 to 50,000.

Canada, the PQ said, has failed to develop a working model for immigration and that it is putting stress on services, specifically on the number of daycare spaces available.

“As long as the federal government controls our borders and exercises most of the power over immigration, Quebec will not be able to develop a viable immigration model,” said leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “Without independence, Quebec is condemned to an eternal defensive posture. Canada is condemning Quebec to a dead end where it must choose between maintaining its political weight or preserving its model of society. This shows that the only way for Quebecers to increase their political weight and protect their language and culture is through independence.”

The federal Liberal government recently dropped immigration targets for permanent residents from 500,000 to 395,000 for 2025, in addition to reducing the proportion of temporary residents -- both foreign workers and international students -- to five per cent of the population over the next three years. This number is down from just over seven per cent.

The PQ says the “astronomical” immigration thresholds have a negative effect on the birthrate in the province.

Other aspects of the PQ’s plan include:

• Abolishing the international mobility program and federal temporary worker program;
• Tightening standards for processing asylum claims while speeding up processing times;
• Quickly process family reunification cases for spouses and children;
• Make a list of jobs that need filling and establish a hierarchy of priorities for temporary foreign workers, thus tightening the selection criteria;
• Move towards automation and robotization in sectors of our economy where there are labour shortages;
• Raise French proficiency requirements.
• Set temporary foreign worker numbers at 40,000;
• Increase international students to 50,000, re-establish equity between French and English-speaking schools; and
• Review university funding policy related to international students.

Francois Legault’s CAQ government wants to cap internation student numbers and decrease the number of temporary immigrants. French-language Minister Jean-Francois Roberge would not commit to a number on Oct. 10, but said the situation needs to be analyzed.

The PQ says the CAQ has “lost control over immigration.”

“This is a documented response to an urgent situation: the federal government's desire for years to impose a new immigration model on us, without our consent, is harmful to Quebec, in terms of protecting the French language, our ability to deliver public services, housing and equal opportunities,” said St-Pierre Plamondon. 

With files from The Canadian Press.