Le PLQ propose de rapatrier le Programme de mobilité internationale
MONTREAL — As the meeting between Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and François Legault regarding immigration approaches, the spokesperson for the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) on immigration, André Albert Morin, is calling on the CAQ government to repatriate the management of the International Mobility Program, currently under federal jurisdiction.
“The CAQ has lost control of immigration, especially temporary immigration, which is in crisis. So, if Quebec wants to truly manage temporary immigration, what I propose to them is to repatriate all temporary workers. And within that group, there is the federal Mobility Program,” Morin stated in an interview on Sunday.
The International Mobility Program allows employers to “hire a temporary worker without obtaining a labor market impact assessment,” as stated on the federal government website.
Morin believes that the government could repatriate the program without needing to reopen the 1991 Gagnon-Tremblay-McDougall agreement, which defines the roles of Quebec and the federal government in immigration matters.
In May, during a meeting of federal and provincial Immigration Ministers in Montreal, it was agreed to establish a working committee to address a better distribution of asylum seekers in the country.
The Quebec Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, expressed satisfaction with the meeting, acknowledging that Quebec and Ontario are facing disproportionate pressure related to asylum seekers.
Since 2017, Quebec has welcomed over 230,000 asylum seekers, representing 50.7% of all asylum seekers in Canada, despite Quebec only accounting for 22% of the country’s demographic weight.
Morin expects Premier Legault to secure funding from the federal government for this reason, in addition to obtaining the Mobility Program.
On Friday, Premier Legault announced the creation of a committee for Quebec’s autonomy within the Canadian federation, which will evaluate immigration. Morin stated that the PLQ will closely examine this committee.
– With information from Stéphane Blais, La Presse Canadienne.