Québec International is calling on the government to ensure that 15% of new arrivals settle in the Quebec region. In recent years only 5.9% have settled there.
“We want the region to be considered as a second immigration center in Quebec so that it can be a priority for the government,” argues Marie-Josée Chouinard, vice-president of the organization, which has been working to attract foreign workers for 15 years. in the capital region.
Québec International will soon make a formal request in a memorandum to be submitted to the National Assembly as part of the consultations on immigration thresholds that Minister Christine Fréchette will soon lead.
Currently, permanent residents who do not choose Montreal as such tend to settle in the metropolis’ surroundings, particularly in Laval and Montérégie.
Meanwhile, the number of immigrants in Quebec is stagnating. Between 2015 and 2020, 5.9% of immigrants admitted to Quebec chose the national capital region, which is still home to 8.9% of the province’s population. In the neighboring region of Chaudière-Appalaches, things are even worse: only 0.5% of immigrants have chosen this region, while it accounts for 5% of Quebec’s population.
In 2022, the situation in the Quebec region improved: the number of immigrants doubled within a year to over 5,000 people. However, Québec International is convinced that the gap that needs to be closed remains immense.
The organization also points out that the National Capital Region is aging. And that the labor shortage is “acute,” with an unemployment rate of 2.9% at the end of 2022, the lowest among Canadian metropolitan areas.
Record number of temporary workers
Québec International wants the government to give priority to temporary workers and students already on its territory. “ [Ils] are already established in the region and speak French,” notes Marie-Josée Chouinard. For example, the ministry could set up special invitation rounds for temporary workers who are already employed in the region, i.e. all professions together.
“The number of temporary workers is exploding,” says the vice-president of Québec International. “This is unprecedented. We have never had so many temporary foreign workers and international students. »
Between 2021 and 2022, their number in the Quebec metropolitan census region has almost tripled, reaching almost 3,000 people. The Quebec Multi-Ethnic Center sees the signs every day. “Of the 2,500 people we help every year, around 1,000 are temporary workers,” explains manager Natacha Battisti. That is more than the number of permanent residents.
The situation of temporary workers will also be at the heart of the debate on immigration thresholds that will take place in the National Assembly in the coming weeks. In particular, the government must decide whether or not to increase the number of immigrants admitted to 60,000 per year.
The Legault government has also made it a priority to regionalize immigration. However, the importance of temporary workers in this equation still needs to be clarified. One thing is certain: Minister Fréchette now wants to encourage candidates to settle outside Montreal before they arrive.
Quebec City in reflection
Quebec City is not among the groups scheduled to speak before the parliamentary committee in September. It is in extensive consultations on its vision on immigration, which must be presented in November.
Former mayor Régis Labeaume often cited immigration as a priority for the city. For this purpose, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor, Iréna Florence Harris, was also appointed in 2020. “We have to do something, otherwise we’ll hit a wall,” Mr. Labeaume said during a speech in Montreal in 2018. “In Quebec, the white, Judeo-Christian, French-speaking city par excellence, we need immigrants and we need to mix , otherwise our economic future is at stake.”
But the number of immigrants admitted to the region each year has barely increased since then. How can we explain this apparent failure?
Marie-Josée Chouinard replies that “the natural attraction of metropolises” is difficult to counteract everywhere. That “mid-sized cities” elsewhere in Canada all have the same problem. However, here too, the Quebec metropolitan region performs worse than the others, as it is one of the capitals of Canada. With the exception of Saint John’s (4.6%), the proportion of foreign-born people is lowest in Newfoundland (6.7%).