During the Quebec election campaign François Legault floated the idea of holding a referendum on immigration.
Author of the article:
La Presse Canadienne
Émilie Bergeron
Quebec already has “all the necessary tools ” at its disposal to select immigrants, federal Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said on Tuesday.
However Rodriguez, the Trudeau government’s Quebec lieutenant, said that he was open to discussing the demands from the newly re-elected government of François Legault for more power in immigration to protect French.
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“We could eventually discuss the topic of immigration, but I think Quebec has the tools in hand right now to select the vast majority of its immigrants,” Rodriguez told reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons, adding that the province has the power to select up to 28 per cent of its immigrants, although it currently is exercising 13 per cent of that power.
“Which means there is another (percentage) that Quebec could choose that would be entirely francophone,” he said.
Quebec’s immigration ministry was unable on Tuesday to immediately confirm the figures cited by Rodriguez.
During the election campaign, Legault floated the idea of holding a referendum on immigration in a bid to win more jurisdiction in the area.
Rodriguez said he had not heard anything from the Quebec government on the possibility of such a referendum.
The minister said that Ottawa is working with Quebec to deal with the issue of irregular migrants crossing into Canada at the Roxham Rd. entry point in the Montérégie region.
Over the course of the election campaign, Rodriguez urged Legault to stop dividing Quebecers into “us and them” after the latter described non-French-speaking immigration to the province as a threat to “national cohesion.”
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