CAQ must be ‘joking’ on immigration: Couillard
QUEBEC Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard went on the offensive on Friday against the Coalition Avenir Québec’s plan to deny the right to apply for permanent residency to immigrants who don’t pass a test on Quebec values and the French language within three years.
At the first leaders’ debate on Thursday night, CAQ Leader François Legault said it would not be the Quebec government that would deport people who remained in the province after failing the test.
“Who it would it be then?” Couillard said Friday. “He must be joking.”
Legault said that people who failed the test and were denied a Quebec Selection Certificate — which people immigrating to Canada through Quebec’s economic immigration program must obtain before applying for federal permanent residency — would therefore be in the country illegally and subject to deportation by the federal government.
But Couillard said people who fail the French test are attempting to come to Quebec legally and will live in fear for three years — unsure whether they will be able to stay in the country.
NEW TAX POWERS FOR MUNICIPALITIES
Earlier in the day, Couillard promised that municipalities in Quebec would get new taxation powers — long sought by the city of Montreal as it looks to lessen its dependence on property taxes — if the Liberal government is reelected.
But Couillard said just what those powers would look like has yet to be decided.
Speaking at a meeting of the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), Couillard reiterated a promise to transfer to municipalities the revenue generated from one percentage point of the provincial sales tax, a move that the UMQ has called for.
“This is huge. It’s never been done before in Canada,” Couillard said.
All four major parties now have made similar promises.
Couillard said giving municipalities a piece of the sales tax would allow them to benefit directly from economic growth.
Almost 70 per cent of Montreal’s operating budget is funded through property taxes. Provincial law gives cities few other abilities to generate revenue.
Couillard said that if he’s reelected, he would meet with municipalities to look at how their taxation powers can be adjusted to modern realities.
“The fact that they still depend heavily on property taxes doesn’t always help them to make the right decisions,” he said. “I cannot tell you exactly today how this would work. We need to sit together, look at the experiences that are going on elsewhere and hopefully come to a new type of arrangement.”
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who has said the percentage of the city’s revenue that comes from property taxes is “way too high,” said the transfer of sales tax will be good for the city — but she’d like to see more details on just how it will work.
Plante also wants property taxes applied to government buildings, which are currently exempt or, in the case of health care and educational institutions, pay discounted rates.
While Plante said she’s pleased the Couillard government gave Montreal metropolis status, she’d still like to see concrete plans to give the city the ability to find other sources of revenue.
“We’ve seen that the past government was able to bring together conditions to give us more flexibility, to be more agile, but at this point, though we appreciate all this, what we want to see is numbers and a process, a strong process, a concrete one. How are we going to diversify the sources of revenue for cities?” she said. “This is not feasible any more.”
The Liberal leader said he is looking forward to the second televised leaders’ debate on Monday — this time in English. He said it won’t be very different from the debate in French on Thursday, though he added he plans to watch English TV and listen to English radio to practice.
“Even though I think I have a good mastery of English, sometimes I will fumble a word,” he said.