After years of calls from Ottawa to reduce the number of non-permanent residents in the province, Quebec now says the federal government has gone too far.
Immigration Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said Thursday that Ottawa's latest measures to curb temporary immigration, particularly cuts to the temporary foreign labor program, have left many Quebec businesses in a “dire” situation.
Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge answers the opposition during question period in the Quebec legislature, Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissineau
“Ottawa is creating an emergency,” Roberge told media in Quebec. “I don't understand what they're thinking.”
His comments mark a sharp change in tone from Premier Francois Legault's government, which has long argued that the influx of non-permanent residents is putting pressure on housing, health care and the French language.
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But in recent months, Quebec business owners and industry groups have sounded the alarm about new federal restrictions on the temporary foreign worker program, warning they could have disastrous consequences. Roberge echoed their concerns on Thursday, saying regions across Quebec were facing a “crisis.”
Roberge stressed that Quebec's concerns have always been directed at asylum seekers and other categories of persons under federal control, not at the temporary foreign workers who fill labor shortages. “We don’t want businesses to close,” he said.
It comes as Roberge unveiled his immigration plan for the province on Thursday, which included lowering immigration targets over the next four years to 45,000 new permanent residents annually. That marks a drop from the 61,000 permanent immigrants expected in Quebec this year.
Roberge said he had previously considered reducing the level of permanent immigration to 25,000 people a year. But with Ottawa refusing to ease restrictions on temporary foreign workers, he said Quebec now has no choice but to offer some of those workers permanent status rather than force them to leave.
Last year, the federal government reinstated a rule capping the share of low-wage temporary foreign workers at 10 percent of a company's total workforce, canceling an expansion planned for 2022 intended to ease labor shortages. Roberge said Quebec asked for a grandfather clause to allow workers already in the province to stay, but that request was rejected.
At a recent committee hearing, industry representatives warned that the cap would hit businesses hard, especially those that depend on foreign labor.
“Quebec simply does not have enough workers to support its growth, public services and economic ambitions.”
The federal budget this week reported that the number of new temporary foreign workers arriving this year has fallen by about 50 percent.
— with files from The Canadian Press
