‘Political narrative’: Legault criticized for saying Quebec can’t welcome more immigrants

An immigration lawyer says Premier François Legault is turning a blind eye to the needs of the province when he says Quebec can’t accept more than 50,000 immigrants a year.

Legault says increasing that number would have a negative impact on the preservation of the French language.

He made the comments after Canada announced plans to up the number of annual newcomers to 500,000.

But not everyone agrees with Legault.

“It surprises me that Legault, who is always so concerned about the economy, who is so concerned about moving forward with the economic plan, that he wants to cap the number of immigrants,” said immigration lawyer Viviane Albuquerque.

Albuquerque says it’s possible for Quebec to welcome more newcomers and integrate them better.

She believes Legault’s cap on the amount of newcomers coming to Quebec does not account for the many anglophones who come to Quebec from other provinces in Canada, rather it alienates those from outside the country.

“It’s the political narrative that he has been saying for so long: ‘we can’t have immigrants, the immigrants are evil, immigrants are not good, it’s us against them.’

“We have to stop this discourse and actually integrate them better.”

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Dolores Chew, a South Asian community activist, says Legault’s fears of the depletion of the French Language has no backing.

“Historically, the newcomers who come are the ones who go to French schools, who learn French, who have built this place,” said Chew.

“We need immigrants. We need immigrants badly,” added Naseer Mehdi Khan, a member of the India Canada Organization.

With labour shortages across Canada in several fields – and Quebec is no different – advocates say Legault is being short-sighted.

“Ask any business person, from low-paying jobs to high-paying jobs, they need employees,” said Khan.

“Nurses, we’re talking about doctors, we’re talking about teachers,” added Albuquerque. “(Legault) is really ignoring the big elephant in the room.”

Some believe it comes down to politics, with the passing of Bill 21 and Bill 96 in Quebec

“It seems that this is a very political issue which has less to do with concerns about the French language and more to do with other things, more troubling things,” said Chew.