Quebec Premier François Legault is not mincing his words: he wants full control over the family reunification powers under Canada’s immigration laws.
Legault wants the province to determine which newly-arrived migrants are permitted into Quebec to re-unite with their family members.
”I think it has to be a top priority,” Legault said at a press conference following the Coalition Avenir Québec’s (CAQ) party convention in Drummondville, Que., on Sunday.
He says this is power he hopes to repatriate from Ottawa as Quebecers prepare to go to the polls for a general election scheduled for Oct. 3.
Legault says 26 per cent of arrivals to Quebec qualify under the family reunification claims and of those, half of them, or about 6,000 don’t speak French.
The premier insists granting Quebec more power over immigration could change this dynamic.
”Is it too much to ask them to learn French before moving to Quebec? Is it too much? I don’t think so,” Legault said.
The demand comes as a recent Léger poll reveals the CAQ is well ahead of all the other parties.
Observers say the demand by Legault is a move to shore up his political base.
”It’s a way to say we will fight for more autonomy for Quebec and I think this is likely to pay off among Francophone voters,” Daniel Béland, the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, told Global News.
Controversial issues like Bill 96 on language and Bill 21 on secularism will likely be discussed during the campaign, according to Béland, even though the bills have become law.
Bill 21 is currently being challenged in court and the English Montreal School Board is planning to mount a legal challenge to Bill 96.