An uptick in the number of temporary immigrants to the French-Canadian province is causing francophone Quebecers to become a minority, the Parti Quebecois has claimed.
The claim regarding the advent of an impending demographic transition was made last Thursday, reports the Montreal Gazette, based on Statistics Canada numbers from the previous day.
The critics indicate that the number of immigrants in the province witnessed a boost by nearly 50 percent over a 12-month period, from 322,000 to 471,000.
This was called to be a “red flag” by the Quebec Liberal Party, in relation to Quebec’s ability to absorb the unprecedented inflow of foreign workers. Interim party leader Marc Tanguay described the Legault government as having “lost control.”
Immigration spokesperson of PQ Pascal Berube said that the province simply does not have the capacity to welcome 471,000 immigrants, be it in terms of housing, social services, or places in the immigration system.
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“The federal government is imposing far too many temporary [immigrants] which will have a considerable impact on all aspects of our collective life,” he said.
“I say that we adjust our minorization, particularly linguistically.”
He also announced that he will table a motion in the House to reaffirm the immigration thresholds, as reported by CBC.
“We hope that the CAQ will agree because we are doing their job at the moment.”
The head of Quebec solidaire Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also weighed in on the judgement, adding that the issue of temporary immigration to Quebec is a “huge blind spot” in CAQ’s immigration discourse.
The French province’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers under given conditions.
The following streams fall under its tenets:
- Global Talent Stream
- High-wage positions
- Low-wage positions
- Agricultural workers
The employer is responsible for deciding which stream to offer workers. Then, the employer must:
- Gain a favorable assessment of the effects of the offer of employment on the labour market in Québec from the Gouvernement du Québec
- Obtain a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from the Government of Canada.
Workers, on the other hand, are required to hold these documents to come to Quebec as a temporary worker:
- A Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ), issued by the Government du Quebec
- A work permit issued by the Canadian Government
Working temporarily in Quebec requires an offer of employment from an established Quebec business.
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The business and the foreign worker then have to obtain the requisite legal authorization for the latter to work in Canada.
As a prospective foreign worker, optimizing your job search in Quebec could be achieved through the following:
- Submitting your application at the Journées Québec recruitment activities organized by the Gouvernement du Québec;
- Consulting Québec corporate websites;
- Going to the page Available Job Offers;
- Going to the Québec Emploi website.
Although you cannot register directly on any of these platforms (except for Journées Québec) as the job postings are not geared towards foreign workers.
However, the Quebec government website posits these to be good channels to identify job positions and Quebec employers that may be open for spontaneous applications.