Focus Montreal returns with the first of four Quebec electoral district candidate debates.
This week, Global Montreal invited candidates to debate the topic of Quebec immigration, including the province’s religious symbols bill, refugee resettlement costs and immigration control.
READ MORE: Why secularism is quickly becoming a ballot-box issue in Quebec
The candidates present at the debate were Liberal incumbent Marc Garneau from the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount riding, the NDP’s Ève Péclet from La Pointe-de-l’Île, the Conservatives’ Neil Drabkin, representing Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, and the Green Party’s Meryam Haddad from Châteauguay—Lacolle.
Global Montreal reached out to the Bloc Québécois, but the party did not send a candidate to take part in the debate.
Would your party intervene and challenge Quebec’s secularism law?
Quebec Premier François Legault recently stressed that he wants the federal government to stay out of the province’s contentious secularism law, Bill 21, which prohibits civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols at work.
READ MORE: Federal government can intervene in Bill 21 with untested legal options: experts
While the legislation is being challenged by minority rights groups, Global’s Elysia Bryan Baynes asked the candidates if their respective parties would interfere with the bill at a federal level if elected.
Would your party reimburse Quebec’s high refugee resettlement costs?
The federal and provincial governments have reported that Quebec took in more than 90 per cent of refugees that came into the country through the official ports of entry in 2017 and 2018.
That percentage amounts to 27,970 people in 2018 and 24,980 people in 2017.
The Liberal government previously agreed to reimburse Quebec $250 million due to the high refugee resettlement costs incurred by the province during those years. The Liberals have also agreed to reimburse Quebec’s 2019 costs.
READ MORE: COMMENTARY: François Legault’s immigration policies are a ‘gift’ to the Bloc Québécois
Global’s Elysia Bryan Baynes asked the candidates if their party would uphold this agreement and reimburse the province for 2019.
What level of government should control immigration?
When expressing the province’s federal wish list on Tuesday, Legault said he wants the provincial government to have total control over immigration.
The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has said it wants to decrease the number of immigrants it accepts from the family reunification and refugee resettlement programs in order to increase the number of “economic” or “skilled” immigrants to feed the labour shortage.
Current Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said he would allow an economic immigrant increase, but not at the expense of the other two programs.
Global’s Elysia Bryan Baynes asked the candidates which level of government they believe should have control over immigration. Watch above.
READ MORE: Why federal leaders, despite criticism, aren’t taking a stronger stance on Quebec’s Bill 21
Focus Montreal introduces Montrealers to the people who are shaping the community by bringing their stories into focus.
The show airs on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. as well as Sunday at 7:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and midnight.
WATCH MORE: CAQ looks at increasing number of immigrants to Quebec
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