New Quebec law stresses migrants' skills, thousands must reapply
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Montreal (AFP) - The Quebec provincial legislature on Sunday approved a controversial immigration bill that will replace a first-come, first-served standard for accepting migrants with one tied to an applicants' skills.
The law is similar to a proposed plan from US President Donald Trump that would shift his country's visa system from family-based immigration towards bringing in more skilled workers.
The law will attempt to more closely match the skills offered by would-be immigrants with the needs of the labor market in Quebec, Canada's second most-populous province.
Under the new law, some 18,000 applications now on file will be shredded, affecting as many as 50,000 people, many of whom already live in the province.
The 18,000 existing applicants will have to restart the immigration process.
The provincial government promised to expedite processing of their new applications, saying qualified workers would have answers within six months rather than the current 36 months.
The 62-to-42 vote on the bill took place around 4 am (0800 GMT) at the end of a marathon session convened by the governing center-right Coalition Avenir Quebec, immigration minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced on Twitter.
"We are modifying the immigration system in the public interest because we have to ensure we have a system which meets the needs of the labor market," Jolin-Barrette told the National Assembly.
All three opposition parties opposed the measure, calling it "inhuman" and saying the government did not justify dropping the 18,000 pending applications.
"Honestly, I don't think this bill will be seen positively in history," Liberal Party MP Dominique Anglade said, according to the Montreal Gazette. "It's the image of Quebec which gets tarnished."
Premier Francois Legault's government resorted to a special parliamentary procedure to limit debate over the proposal.
His party won power in October with a promise to slash by more than 20 percent the number of immigrants and refugees arriving each year in Quebec.
The assembly reconvened on Sunday and after sometimes-acrimonious debate passed a bill banning the wearing of religious symbols by public servants including police officers, judges, lawyers, prison guards and teachers.
However the new law will only apply to new recruits, with existing employees unaffected.
The proposal, also backed by Legault, puts the premier at odds with the multiculturalism advocated by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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The Quebec provincial legislature on Sunday approved a controversial immigration bill that will replace a first-come, first-served standard for accepting migrants with one tied to an applicants' skills.
"We are modifying the immigration system in the public interest because we have to ensure we have a system which meets the needs of the labor market," Jolin-Barrette told the National Assembly.
And Congress is AFRAID to have qualified citizens because they just LOVE welfare donations to all Illegal Aliens.
democrats have two things against it.
First, in the US family living here is prioritized and the family thanks democrats with a vote.
Second, Trump is in favor of a merit based system.
Wait... Quebec now has a merit based immigration system?
Those racist bastards......
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/s
And to think that not long ago their little leader spoke of taking in those the US wouldn't!
You'll notice how rapidly his popularity has dropped. The Canadian people don't want quantity - they want quality citizens.
Wonder why the U.S. had dropped that mantra???
I wonder how many in the US actually vote on real issues or even think about things like immigration policy on America's history and why at one time we had a need to bring immigrants in and therefore had no real immigration policy. Wasn't there once a kind of unwritten policy of migrants crossing the southern border, working here for a bit and going home?
That's an excellent point Vic. When folks go to the voting polls, not a whole lot of them read all the "addendums" that are on their ballots. They will just vote party line.
If we're consistent we should conclude from this that Quebec is xenophobic and racist. But at least they're still unfailingly polite.