legault Fears for future of french
Influx of non-francophone immigrants a risk to Quebec’s identity, CAQ leader says
SAINT-COLOMBAN Left unchecked, the influx of non-francophone immigrants represents such a risk to Quebec’s identity, François Legault says, that he worries his grandchildren will not speak French.
Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, made the comment Thursday as the election campaign veered for the first time into language politics, sparking a war of words between Legault and Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard.
“There is a risk our grandchildren will not speak French,” Legault said, turning on the nationalist tap. “I wouldn’t want to have that on my back, during my watch.
“Sitting in North America, Quebec is surrounded by hundreds of millions of anglophones. We will always be in a vulnerable position. Mr. Couillard has not understood that. It is the responsibility of the premier of Quebec to protect the nation, to protect French.
“With 50,000 (immigrants) arriving here a year, that’s a half a million in 10 years. It’s clear if these people don’t learn French ... there’s a risk, yes.”
Legault was responding to comments from Couillard, who earlier Thursday accused him of wanting to “break up,” families because part of the CAQ’s immigration reduction plan involves wrestling the immigrant family unification programs out of the hands of the federal government.
Legault has said getting jurisdiction over the program is part and parcel of his plan to slash immigration to Quebec from 50,000 a year to 40,000.
“I see he’s (Couillard) got the bogeyman out again today,” Legault responded at a news conference held in a mall parking lot in this city in the Laurentians late Thursday.
He insisted a majority of Quebecers want Quebec to have more power to select its own immigrants and impose — as the CAQ proposes — language and value tests on them.
And they are unhappy 59 per cent of immigrants who set up shop in Quebec don’t speak French. Worse, under the family unification plan, there is no obligation to learn it either because it’s run by Ottawa.
Legault has been critical of the Liberal record on immigration, saying the system is so badly run a quarter of new arrivals end up leaving the province. Despite the Liberal line that Quebec needs more labour, 75 per cent of immigrants choose to live in Montreal, not where the shortages are in the regions.
It is the second day in a row Legault has ventured into the immigration and language issue in what appears to be deliberate encroachment into the void left by the emaciated Parti Québécois, which used to master such hot-button issues.
Legault is now telling voters not to vote PQ because only the CAQ is in a position to defeat the Liberals.
“I didn’t think M. Legault would be panicking this early in the campaign,” PQ Leader Jean-François Lisée responded later. “People are figuring out that the PQ is the only real party of change.”
But leading in the polls with three and half weeks left to campaign, a confident Legault is moving fast and furious, saying he’s ready to assume the leadership because Couillard spends most of his time “on his knees,” and never asks for powers Quebec needs.
Legault said while the CAQ promises an “in Canada” future for Quebec, his government will try almost immediately to pry more powers out of Ottawa, “one by one.” The list is exhaustive.
“Even (Justin Trudeau) won’t have any choice but to say yes if a large majority of Quebecers ask that this power (over unification program) be given to the Quebec government.” Legault said under questioning by the Montreal Gazette.
The highly revealing remarks set the stage for a collision with Ottawa should the CAQ form a majority government, despite media reports in English Canada that Quebec’s election is a docile affair not to be concerned with.
Earlier, however, Legault revealed a more pragmatic side when he clarified — even before Couillard levelled his accusations about families — that elderly immigrants arriving in Quebec to join their families would be exempted from having to pass the new French tests the CAQ plans to impose.
And separating immigrant parents from their children, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration did in Mexico earlier this year, is out of the question here.
A total of 53,388 immigrants came to Quebec in 2017. Ottawa retains the power to select 9,000 asylum seekers included in the overall total and the 12,000 who come under its family unification programs. That often means elderly grandparents, but also brothers and sisters who are sponsored by immigrants already living here.
Couillard, however, had choice words for him earlier.
“On the one hand, he wants to close the door, which will mean fewer workers from outside,” Couillard said campaigning in the Eastern Townships. “And he opens the door to their being expelled with his tests and on top of that he is even ready to break up families.
“What an extraordinary social vision,” he said, adding Legault’s failure to recognize that there is a labour shortage in Quebec is “almost extraterrestrial.”
There is a risk our grandchildren will not speak French. I wouldn’t wanttohave that on my back, during my watch.