CAQ leadership race fuels fresh turmoil over Quebec’s cancelled PEQ immigration program

Pressure is mounting on the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) as both candidates in the party’s leadership race signal they would implement exceptions to the now-abolished Quebec Experience Program (PEQ).

Opposition parties reacted sharply Wednesday at the National Assembly, accusing the CAQ of contradicting its own immigration policies and plunging the government into turmoil.

“Quebec has become ungovernable right now with this leadership race,” said Parti Québécois (PQ) MNA and spokesperson Joël Arseneau.

Tensions flared as opposition leaders questioned who is truly steering the ship while the party searches for a new leader.

“Now we no longer know whether or not we have a captain on board,” Arseneau added.

Quebec Liberal interim leader Marc Tanguay called on Premier François Legault to take a clearer stance.

“He must act as a leader and say, ‘You know what? It’s their position,’” he said, referencing candidates Christine Fréchette and Bernard Drainville, who peeled off the party line by promising varying versions of a PEQ grandfather clause.

Fréchette said Tuesday in a social media post said she would reopen the PEQ for two years and introduce a sweeping grandfather clause for applicants already in Quebec.

“My position is clear: to join the leadership race, which will culminate on April 12. So it’s from that date that I’ll commit to reactivating the PEQ,” she said.

Her rival, Bernard Drainville, has proposed a narrower approach, limiting exemptions to temporary workers in priority sectors such as health care.

“If we reopen the PEQ, we lose out, we lose the leverage that allows us to prioritize the workers we want and send them to the regions,” Drainville said.

Outgoing Premier François Legault intervened on Tuesday while speaking in Montreal, contradicting both leadership candidates by saying that the CAQ’s objective of reducing immigration levels has not changed.

That position has raised questions about whether the government should act now, rather than wait until the leadership race ends on April 12. Opposition parties point to immigrants who were relying on the PEQ as a direct pathway to permanent residency.

The PEQ was Quebec’s only fast-track program offering a direct path to permanent residency. It was abolished in November, triggering a wave of backlash that swept across the province, with many applicants saying they now face the possibility of being forced to leave amid ongoing uncertainty.

Both the Quebec Liberals and Québec solidaire argue the government should immediately implement a grandfather clause, warning that delays could leave more applicants in limbo over the next two months.

“The Roberge government must absolutely back down,” aid Québec solidaire immigration critic and MNA Andrés Fontecilla.

Speaking to reporters, Liberal immigration critic André Albert Morin referenced the story of a Ukrainian health-care worker he met at Saturday’s rally in Montreal that denounced the recent changes in immigration policy.

“She told me, ‘well I’m from Ukraine. If they send me back, would they send me back to Ukraine?’” he cited her to have said.

Those concerns are echoed by immigrant advocacy groups.

“I’m just like many others, very stressed and anxious and uncertain of what’s going to happen in the future,” said Nadir Belaid, spokesperson for Le Québec, c’est nous aussi, the group that organized Saturday’s rally.

“The government didn’t honour any of its promises, it betrayed us totally.”

Roberge to ‘evaluate different scenarios’ for PEQ transition measures

Caught between leadership candidates and his government, Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge is trying to buy time by announcing that his department will “evaluate different scenarios” to allow for a “transition period” between the PEQ and the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ).

“I have heard the criticism, mainly from people who are concerned about the transition period between the old program, the PEQ, and the new program, the PSTQ. Some people don’t fully understand the issues,” he said in a brief press scrum on Wednesday at the National Assembly.

He encourages immigrants to turn to the PSTQ to obtain permanent residence.

The minister’s decision continues to be criticized from all sides. Last week, he committed to giving priority to the applications of 6,300 foreign workers in the health sector in the PSTQ.

According to Roberge, the program is “significantly superior” to the PEQ.

“It’s an economic program. It’s a program that allows us to regionalize immigration, that better protects the French language, and that selects people directly in the territory. So it’s clear that the new program is the way forward,” he said.

Roberge was one of the first CAQ ministers to endorse Fréchette back when she launched her campaign.

Fréchette said she had regular exchanges with her colleague at Immigration.

“He was aware that I was considering it. I didn’t ask him to endorse anything. He’s doing his own thing,” she said on Wednesday.

–With files from La Presse Canadienne