Premier Legault considers limiting temporary foreign workers, as Quebec population passes 9M mark

Premier François Legault is considering limiting the arrival of temporary foreign workers in Quebec.

At a press conference in Sherbrooke on Thursday after the CAQ caucus meetings, he said he’s considering tightening the admission criteria for these specific workers.

“We’re not ruling it out. We’re looking into it.”

The selection of temporary foreign workers is done under various programs and is a shared jurisdiction between Quebec and Ottawa, but their numbers have increased in recent years.

There are more than 500,000 temporary immigrants in Quebec, many who are temporary foreign workers – while the others are students and asylum seekers, according to La Presse.

The selection of temporary foreign workers is done under various programs and is a shared jurisdiction between Quebec and Ottawa.

La Presse reported on Thursday that Quebec’s population just passed the 9-million mark.

“The discussions are going well with Federal Minister Marc Miller. I think there is openness,” he said. “I am confident that we will succeed in finding compromises with the federal government. We would like to have more powers in immigration but we already have them and we are using them”.

“As we said and as I wrote to Justin Trudeau, having nearly 150,000 asylum seekers at the same time puts pressure on housing, on health and education services, and also poses a challenge for the future of French. Our position is that we need to reduce the number of asylum seekers.”