Plante calls for 'calm, comprehensive' debate on Quebec's immigration needs

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante refused on Tuesday to condemn the anti-immigrant rhetoric that surfaced during the provincial election campaign.

Instead, she said she wants a calm and factual debate about Quebec’s future immigration needs.

In the coming weeks and months, Plante said, she wants to hear from experts in the business community, universities, medium-size businesses and from the owners of small shops who are all struggling to find staff.

“I want to have a calm, comprehensive and documented debate about numbers,” Plante said during a news conference outside city hall, after congratulating the Legault government on its re-election.

Quebec has a huge labour shortage, with tens of thousands of unfilled jobs.

The last week of the campaign was dominated by anti-immigration rhetoric. Outgoing immigration minister Jean Boulet said that 80 per cent of immigrants “go to Montreal, do not work, do not speak French or do not adhere to the values of Quebec society.”

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault was criticized for saying it would be “suicidal” for Quebec to admit more than 50,000 immigrants a year because they could not all be properly integrated into French society.

Dominique Ollivier, an immigrant from Haiti who is the president of the city’s executive committee, also let Legault off the hook when asked about his controversial use of the word “suicidal” when discussing immigration levels.

“What he was saying was that we need to make sure we could integrate them and they can participate in the French reality that we have in Montreal,” she said.

“Although a small sentence taken out of context can hurt some people, we have a responsibility as municipal officials to make sure no one is left behind and everyone feels that they belong to that society that we are building together. We will make sure that we bring that message forward.”

Plante also said that she wants to work with Quebec on issues that are important to Montrealers, such as housing, mobility, public security and the ecological transition.

She wants Quebec to give Montreal access to new sources of revenue by updating the city’s fiscal deal with the province.

During the campaign, Plante called on Quebec to share part of the provincial sales tax revenue it collects.

Montreal assumes more responsibilities in the areas of public security, housing and homelessness because of its special status, and a budget that relies mostly on property tax revenues is insufficient, Plante said.

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