CAQ on Immigration: What to expect

Who are the CAQ, and are they Trumpish?

A new kid on the block is taking the helm of the provincial government today, 2018/10/18, and this apparently is a big deal. The Coalition Avenir Québec (in English, Coalition for Quebec’s Future) was formed less than a decade ago by François Legault, co-founder of the Canadian airline Air Transat, a “low-cost” leisure airline based in Montreal. Since the party is a combination of federalists and Quebec nationalists, perhaps this is true political evolution for François Legault, who was formerly within the separatist Parti Québécois. But how is the CAQ on immigration?

According to Wikipedia, the CAQ is “a centre-right to right-wing Quebec nationalist and autonomist provincial political party”. Especially to an immigrant, reading the words “right-wing” and “nationalist” in the same sentence is alarming, given world history and the BLOTUS down south. But as a relative newcomer to Quebec, I’ll reserve judgment until I learn much more about the party and observe, rhetoric aside, how it operates in the coming year. Following the 2016 U.S. election I was told to “give Trump a chance” before judging him, yet his inaugural address was asinine and the presidency was all downhill from there. Despite claims of similitude, it seems to me that comparing Legault to Trump is comparing apples to oranges. 

What are some talking points of the CAQ on immigration? Looking at their website we see a few, including this whopper:

What does this actually mean? Did they just need to come up with a pleasant-sounding but misleading explanation for accepting fewer immigrants, or is this statement based in a genuine complex reality of most effectively using current resource levels? We can guess that “resources” refers to funding these steps toward integration, in which case the explanation for reducing immigrant admissions seems to at least have a basis. Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland notes that the way refugees are received and the resources available to them when they first arrive truly can mean the difference between either successful long-term integration, or psychological scarring that inhibits it. Perhaps a solid reception for non-refugee immigrants is also vital?

10,000 fewer immigrants: what’s it to you?

In the mind’s eye, the macro-scenario of admitting 20% fewer may play as the following nano-scenario (possibly a terribly misleading analogy, but it’s what came to mind). Envision planning to have Imani, David, Sabra, Amir, and François to your house for dinner. A three-course meal would be served if all attend, but if one of these five individuals (i.e., 20%) does not attend, a four-course meal could be served. This may seem all good and well, yet we must additionally consider that nonattendance will: [1] attenuate the richness of supper conversation, [2] potentially prevent valuable insight and broadening of perspective from occurring, and [3] hey, what if you needed a specialist to fix something in your house but you didn’t make that connection because s/he wasn’t at the table?

As someone who has already received a certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ), I could be selfish and say, “I got mine, so I don’t care if the 5th dinner guest is able to attend”; however, to me that’s not in the spirit of what immigration is about. The [now former] Quebec Liberal Party leader Philippe Couillard believed Legault’s policy to be a “massive error”, and this still could be very true regardless of how correct any of the party leaders are about anything else. We will never know if the Liberal Party’s idea of raising the immigration quota from 50,000 per year to 60,000 would have been more beneficial for all involved, but as a relatively uniformed new denizen, I’d like to know precisely how the CAQ’s 20% cut down to 40,000 will benefit anyone, including me.

CAQ on immigration: Legault is NOT Quebec’s Trump

Whatever the case, in the very least we find the CAQ’s rhetoric under Identity and Culture on their website doesn’t mimic the type of demagogic agit-trash featured on the Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. website. For example, on the mango menace’s Immigration page are favorite anti-immigrant propaganda buzzwords tossed around by low-IQ white nationalist stooges: “violent crime”, “illegal aliens”, “MS-13”, “chain migration”, “sanctuary cities”, “international criminal organizations”, and of course, “protecting” and “safety”. Perhaps the CAQ has a similarly Reich-wing perspective, but are in the closet about it. If so, you’ll read about it here.

My next post about the CAQ flashes forward to their first contentious bill pertaining to immigrants.

— Victor