Christine Fréchette

By: Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Quebec, as of Sept. 3, is freezing Temporary Foreign Worker Program applications for Montreal-area jobs for six months “where the salary offered is lower than the median salary in Quebec, which is $57,000,” Premier François Legault and Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration Christine Fréchette announced last week.

Legault and Fréchette said the move was made to “curb the growth in the number of non-permanent residents in Montreal.”

Legault said, “we absolutely must reduce the number of temporary immigrants in Montreal to protect the French language. We must also protect our public services and reduce the pressure on housing. The federal government is largely responsible for the explosion in the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec. We have decided to act in our areas of jurisdiction. Today’s announcement is a first step, and we are not ruling out going further. We also expect the federal government to act quickly to curb the significant influx of temporary immigrants, many of whom are under its responsibility.”

Fréchette said, “temporary immigration weighs heavily on Quebec – on the French language, as well as on our public services and housing. Indeed, Quebec is facing a labour shortage in some regions, but with the rising unemployment rate and the large number of unemployed asylum seekers in Montreal, businesses in the city must make an effort to recruit people who are already here before bringing in foreign workers. Quebec is now taking a strong step to reduce temporary immigration with the levers at its disposal and intends to equip itself with more of them soon to better supervise the arrival of foreign students.”

The exceptions “are provided for applications related to certain strategic sectors of economic activity such as health, education, construction, agriculture and food processing.”

The Quebec government stated that “the number of non-permanent residents in Quebec, mainly asylum seekers, temporary foreign workers and foreign students, almost doubled between 2021 and 2024, from approximately 300,000 to 600,000 as of April 1, 2024.”

The federal government approved Quebec’s plan, and added that it will “closely monitor this policy as it makes determinations about future changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said that “our government is focused on preserving the integrity of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, making sure that employers resort to it only when there are no qualified workers already in Canada available to fill open job positions. Today’s announcement is part of our ongoing efforts to adjust to the changing labour market while working with provinces and territories to ensure that the rules are followed to protect both Canadian workers and temporary foreign workers, as well as to support the Canadian economy.” n