Quebec's Premier Doesn't Want More Newcomers There & Yes, Language Is The Issue
The province is pushing back against the feds' ambitious new immigration plans.
François Legault making a speech.
The feds recently announced some pretty ambitious plans when it comes to immigration in Canada, although not everyone appears to be happy about the news.
According to the government's 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada wants to welcome over 1 million new permanent residents over the next three years.
Canada plans on ramping up its immigration targets by welcoming 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
However, there's been some pushback against these goals from one Canadian province in particular.
Quebec Premier François Legault maintains that the province cannot take in more than 50,000 immigrants annually.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Legault told reporters that Quebec is facing a "special challenge" to preserve the French language, according to The Canadian Press.
"Already at 400,000 there was a problem, so at 500,000 it’s even more so," Legault said, in reference to the plans to welcome 500,000 new permanent residents to Canada in 2025 alone.
"Already at 50,000 it is difficult to stop the decline of French," he said.
Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec establishes its own immigration levels.
On Wednesday, Legault retweeted a post by Christine Fréchette, Quebec's Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, saying that they "take note of the immigration thresholds presented by the federal government," but "reaffirm that it is up to Quebec to determine its permanent immigration targets".
Fréchette also made it clear that the current annual threshold in Quebec is 50,000 "to respect our reception, francization and integration capacity."
"Our position remains the same: we need more powers in immigration if we want to protect French," Fréchette claimeid.
She also said that she will continue discussions with Sean Fraser, the federal minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, on the topic.How many permanent residents is Canada welcoming?
Under the feds new plans, Canada plans to welcome 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
That's well over 1 million over the course of the next three years.
However, it's important to note that the plan wants the benefits of immigration to be spread across the country.
That is, there will "an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities."
The feds have also said they will be putting a focus on French, with the goal to ensure at least 4.4% of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone
The ambitious plans have been announced to solve the labour shortages that have been affecting the country.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.