Quebec's immigration minister wants to limit the number of foreign students

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge is tabling a bill to limit international students in Quebec. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

The Quebec government has introduced legislation to give itself new powers to cap the number of international students in the province.

The bill tabled today is part of a larger push to lower the number of non-permanent residents in Quebec, which has increased to 600,000 from 300,000 in the last two years.

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge says there were 120,000 foreign students in the province last year, up from 50,000 in 2014, and Quebec is using all the tools at its disposal to reduce temporary immigration.

The new bill would allow the government to fix the number of international student applications by region, by educational institution, by level of study and by program.

Roberge says the bill will not harm regional programs that would not be viable without international students.

Quebec has also hiked by 33 per cent tuition for students from other provinces, an effort to reduce the number of non-French-speaking students in Quebec universities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.