Moe mulls Quebec-style immigration, tax powers

REGINA Premier Scott Moe wants to follow Quebec’s example in seeking more provincial control over immigration and tax collection.

Moe told reporters on Wednesday that he wants the province to have more “autonomy” over how many people are admitted through different immigration classes, as well as over the skills selection process. He said Saskatchewan needs new tools to help achieve his goal of growing the population to 1.4 million over the next decade.

“That’s unprecedented growth in this province, over the history of this province, and if we’re going to do that, we need to think outside the box,” he said.

The economic and family classes are the immigration areas Moe says he’s most interested in. He said few people will choose to move to Saskatchewan if they can’t bring their families, though he did not commit to exactly how the proportions between the two classes should change.

“The goal is not to say what the percentages would be. The goal is to have the flexibility to make the percentages work for the people and the industries in this province,” he said.

He said the main aim is to make immigration policy more responsive to Saskatchewan’s job and population needs, while also expediting how quickly applications are processed.

He added that his minister of trade and immigration recently put the request forward to the federal government. Immigration is a shared jurisdiction, but Quebec has negotiated a special deal with Ottawa that allows the province to table a plan for immigration levels targeting economic, family and humanitarian categories.

Quebec is responsible for selecting immigrants, while the federal government is responsible for admitting them.

Moe stressed that the province’s demands are “essentially what the province of Quebec has.”

Moe is also looking to Quebec as an example of how a province can collect its own taxes and said Saskatchewan is exploring a similar option.

Quebec residents submit two sets of income tax filings for provincial and federal taxes. In other provinces, like Saskatchewan, the

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is responsible for processing both sets of filings.

But Moe did not develop that idea, saying it remains at a “very preliminary” stage. He again cited responsiveness as a reason for exploring greater provincial control over tax collection.

“In my own personal experiences, I’ve never experienced CRA to be particularly responsive agency,” he said.

The premier said he would be looking for ways to assert more provincial autonomy after he met recently with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.

Opposition NDP Leader Ryan Meili is concerned about Moe using Quebec as an example for immigration because of that province’s values test.

Moe did not mention the test in his remarks.

Meili also called Moe’s ideas trial balloons that are simply a way of changing the channel.

“He’s always got some random idea that he hasn’t even looked into in any depth or seriousness. He puts it out here to distract from what’s really going on,” said Meili.