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

Quebec has introduced legislation to cap the number of international students in the province, part of a larger push by the government to reduce temporary immigration.

The Coalition Avenir Québec says it's using all the tools at its disposal to lower the number of non-permanent residents in the province, which has increased to 600,000 from 300,000 in the last two years. Premier François Legault first announced his intention to limit foreign students last summer.

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge said on Thursday there has been an "extraordinary increase" of international students in Quebec over the last decade, from about 50,000 in 2014 to 120,000 last year.

"It's too many," he told reporters during a press conference at the provincial legislature, saying foreign students put pressure on housing and health services, and threaten the survival of the French language. He claimed some private colleges have seen a manifold increase in international student enrolment in the last few years, and accused them of using education as "a business model to sell Quebec and Canadian citizenship."

The bill, tabled Thursday, would give the government the power to collect data from institutions about foreign student enrolment. The province would then have broad discretion to fix the number of international student applications by region, by educational institution, by level of study and by program. Roberge said the language of study would also be considered.

On Thursday, Roberge would not commit to a maximum number of international students, saying that more analysis is required.

Some Quebec universities are already speaking out about the bill. The Université du Québec, a network of 10 educational and research institutions across the province, says it has "serious concerns" about the government's plan. In a statement, president Alexandre Cloutier said foreign students help fill the provincial labour shortage by working during their studies. He also said 93 per cent of the network's international students speak French.

Roberge said the government intends to protect regional programs that would not be viable without international students. But he was less clear about how English-language schools would be affected.

"It's not about attacking the English-speaking network, not at all," he said. "However, this may be an element that will be considered, namely in what language the program is given. We know that almost 60 per cent of foreign students are in the Montreal region. So if we want to reduce the numbers, obviously the numbers will be reduced in the Montreal region, and we know that the major English-speaking institutions are in the Montreal region."

McGill University had nearly 12,000 international students enrolled in the fall of 2023, while Concordia University has about 7,700 enrolled this year. "Now that the bill has been tabled, we hope that the government will consult with universities and consider each specific situation," a Concordia spokesperson said in an email.

McGill University said foreign students are a "vital asset" for Quebec. "International students help strengthen Quebec's competitive position in the knowledge economy, provide highly skilled talent for the workforce and help attract business to Quebec," the university said in a statement.

Quebec's two largest English-language universities say they've already been hit hard by the government's decision last year to hike tuition for out-of-province students from $9,000 to $12,000, in an effort to reduce the number of non-French-speaking people in the province. Concordia says it has also seen a nearly 16-per-cent drop in international student enrolment this year.

On Thursday, Roberge claimed the anglophone universities exaggerated the impact of the tuition hike, which he said was not "the end of the world."

"Everybody should analyze (the new legislation) carefully, and I don't think they have to be afraid," he said. "Let's discuss together how we can do it in the best ways."

A spokesperson for the Université de Montréal said the institution plans to "reiterate to the government that the contribution of international students is crucial to Quebec in many ways."

In Ottawa on Thursday, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said international students have been used to “fill up coffers that should probably be filled by other budgetary means.” He said he’s been “begging provinces … to exercise their jurisdiction in this area."

Foreigners are charged significantly higher tuition rates than domestic or out-of-province students, creating a much-needed source of income for universities strapped for cash. At McGill, for example, tuition for the 2024-25 academic year in the engineering undergraduate program is more than $62,000.

Miller said Roberge's bill shows Quebec is “taking action” on the issue, but pointed out that the province is home to four of the top 10 Canadian post-secondary institutions with the most international students who have made refugee claims after their arrival. Roberge said on Thursday that he doesn't want people to "use student visas to make asylum claims."

Ottawa has also taken steps to limit the number of foreign students across the country. In January, the Liberal government announced a cap on international student applications that marked a 35 per cent decrease from last year's numbers. Last month, Miller announced a further 10 per cent cut for 2025.

Roberge said he hopes the Quebec bill will be passed by the end of the year, with the new rules starting to take effect in September 2025.

Here are preliminary estimates of the number of international students enrolled at Quebec universities in the fall of 2024:

• Université de Montréal — 12,845
• McGill University — 10,353
• Concordia University — 7,751
• Université Laval — 6,190
• Université du Québec à Montréal — 5,287
• École de technologie supérieure — 2,858
• Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières — 2,681
• Université de Sherbrooke — 2,603
• Université du Québec à Chicoutimi — 2,415
• Université du Québec en Outaouais — 1,197
• Université du Québec à Rimouski — 1,144
• École nationale d'administration publique — 735
• Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue — 471
• Institut national de la recherche scientifique — 435
• Bishop's University — 417

Source: Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire

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

— With files from Thomas Laberge in Quebec City.