CAQ immigration plan sets 3-year deadline on learning French, passing values test

TheCoalition Avenir Qubec wants to give newcomers three years to show they can speak French and conform to Quebec values or they will be flagged to federal immigration authorities.

"We do not want to keep too many people who do not accept our language, our values and to participate in the workforce," Leader Franois Legault told Radio-Canada.

Under the plan, laid out in an "orientation document" made public this week,immigration candidates would receive a temporary three-year permit, referred to as acertificat d'accompagnement transitoire(CAT),and be tested on certain criteria such as knowledge of the French language in order to receive authorization to apply for Canadian residency.

While extensions could be issued for people in difficult circumstances, including parents of young children or those caring for a ill loved one, newcomerswho repeatedly fail the tests would not receive the authorization and would be flagged at the federal level as living in Quebec without status.

"If the person does not want to learn French, they will not have their selection certificate, so they will never be a citizen," Legaultsaid.

"Theybecomea person without status and it's up to the federal government to decide what to do with that person."

The CAT would replace a similar selection certificate already in place for temporary foreign workers and temporary foreign students.

Three criteria to meet

Legaultsays the aim is to be more selective about which newcomers are allowed intoQuebec and toensure they stay in the province in the long-termand join theworkforce.

He said the majority of immigrantswho cometo the province do not speak French and that presents a problem when it comes to integration.

"What we are saying is that with a CAQ government, we will have more immigrants integrated into the labour market each year than with the Liberal government," Legaultsaid.

"Rather than having 50,000 and then losing 20,000, we will take in 40,000 and integrate 40,000."

Legaultsaid newcomers who are in Quebec and have been issued atransitionarycertificatewould need to meet three criteria within three years: pass a French test, pass a values test and show they are actively looking for a job.

Legault would not say what questions he believes should be asked in thevalues test, but said it would conform to the values set out in Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

"I don't think it would be a good idea for a political party to write a values test," he said. "It would be done by theimmigration ministry."

Other parties, legal experts critical

The plan was swiftly met by criticism fromthe leaders of the other provincial parties and legal experts.

Liberal LeaderPhilippe Couillard described the proposal as impracticable and said it treats immigrants as problems that need solving.

"This cannot work and it sends the wrong message," he said.

"The fundamental flaw in this policy [is] again [Legault] says we should reduce the number of immigrants in Quebec, which is totally against all the economicmessages that we get in Quebec. There's not a single board of trade, there's not a single economic leader that supports that."

Jean-Franois Lise, leader of thePartiQubcois,pointed out that it's not up to Quebec to decide who stays and who goes.

Under the current immigration system,Quebec can select who it decides to take in,but Ottawa ultimatelydetermines who becomes a Canadian citizen or has status.

No judge would allow Quebec to remove someone from Canada.- Immigration lawyerJean-SbastienBoudreault

Some of the ideas put forward in the proposal could ultimately prove to be illegal,Jean-SbastienBoudreault, an immigration lawyer andpresident of the Quebec association of immigration lawyers, toldCBC'sDaybreak.

"Quebec cannot take away a status, [and]cannot tell the federal government that person doesn't have status to stay in Canada," he said.

"Once you're a permanent resident, technically you can move from province to province. You have the same rights as you and me who are citizens. The only difference is you cannot vote, but you have the right to be in Canada....No judge would allow Quebec to remove someone from Canada."