Quebec Restrictions on Foreign Workers: A Quebec employers’ group says a reduction in temporary workers will have negative impact on businesses.
Karl Blackburn, president and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec, called the situation “deplorable,” denying an overpopulation of temporary workers, who are instead “working in our businesses producing goods and services.”
Their numbers, he said, reflect the needs of the labour market and of an aging society.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Francois Legault met in March, when the former rejected the latter’s call for the Quebec government to have full say over who can immigrate to the province.
Since then, Legault has been threatening to hold a referendum on immigration if the federal government does not pay heed to his demands to reduce the number of temporary immigrants, including foreign workers, international students, and refugee claimants
He said that the 560,000 temporary immigrants in Quebec are straining social services and putting the French language in Quebec at risk.
“What I want to tell Mr. Trudeau is that the majority of Quebecers think that 560,000 temporary immigrants, it’s too much,” Legault said.
Christine Frechette, who is Quebec’s immigration minister, said that Quebec demands stronger French language requirements in immigration programs managed by Ottawa and a reduction in the number of asylum seekers and temporary workers.
Blackburn agreed with Legault in saying that Quebec receives a disproportionate number of asylum seekers, he denounced Ottawa’s “improvised” decision to reimpose visas on some Mexican nationals earlier this year. Quebec had pushed for this measure to reduce asylum seeker numbers.
According to Blackburn, businesses are already feeling the “direct effects” of restrictions on foreign workers. The provincial economy will be hurt if more measures are imposed toward that aim.
“It’s as if our governments knowingly agreed to cause companies to lose contracts for reasons of political partisanship and not based on economic growth, which is nonsensical in a way,” Blackburn said.
Quebec has demanded that the federal government reimburse them $1 billion, which is the amount Quebec has spent on caring for asylum seekers in the last three years.
