A storm is coming Tuesday into Wednesday – batten down the hatches.
Updates from February, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
It’s not directly a city matter, but the story about the CAQ government tearing up 18,000 immigration applications, some dating as far back as 2005 and many from people already living productive lives here, is going to affect Montreal more than other parts of the province. Called officially the Loi visant à accroître la prospérité socio-économique du Québec et à répondre adéquatement aux besoins du marché du travail par une intégration réussie des personnes immigrantes it means many people who’ve already invested their lives in staying here to work are now on hold. Even permanent residents from France have been blind-sided by this, and Ottawa has already rejected the CAQ plan to force newcomers to live and work out in the regions.
That arrogant little weasel Simon Jolin-Barrette is bad news.
Douglas
The rural areas of middle of nowhere Quebec deciding whats best for Montreal.
mare
Wow, that’s a draconian law. That’s almost forced relocation. “Of course you can stay in Quebec, but we found a much better match for your skill set in Havre-St-Pierre. According to our records there are even three other people from your country living there, so you’ll feel right at home. No interest in relocation? Too bad.”
I sure this law will be applauded by their voter base, not sure it’ll pass court approval, especially applying it retroactively for current applications, but by time the courts have decided it might be too late.
I know some people that just applied for their permanent residency and they spent almost all their savings on fees, and also on lawyers who guide them through the application process. They need a ‘certificate of selection’ from Quebec, if they move to another province they probably have to start the procedure all over again. They have friends here, are more part of the society than I am. It’s not that the market for game programmers elsewhere is good in Chicoutimi, but it is elsewhere in Canada.
david100
Well, permanent residents are not affected at all by this. This is nowhere near as “draconian” as people are making it out to be. The way immigration works in Quebec is that there are a few streams to get a Quebec selection certificate, the people affected are those with pending applications for permanent residence under the Quebec Skilled Worker rules.
What this legislation will do is the following:
(1) The job categories under the Skilled Worker stream will be updated and in some cases an applicant will be required to have an offer in hand. The way Skilled Worker immigration works in Canada is by point system – with enough education and experience in certain pre-determined “skilled” fields, a person wins enough points to be selected for immigration, and they can simply move to (or stay in) Canada. Quebec doesn’t use quite this system, rather, it evaluates the candidates individually based on their skills and how they match to current labor market needs in the province. This new legislation will re-evaluate the employment needs are by region, and revise the categories that form the basis of this system. It also emphasizes and strengthens that the personalized assessment, requiring more of the candidate. (more on the employment in note (4).
(2) As part of this individual assessment, it will require that the applicant clearly demonstrate a high level of ability to communicate in French. Practically, this means that exams are probably in for everyone aside from students that completed education in French language programs, and that minimum score will rise, possibly significantly (it’s not very high right now, so this is fine). There’s currently a neat trick for students at McGill or Concordia where they can satisfy the language requirement by passing a single french course, and one assumes that’s probably on its way out.
(3) Also – and this is the major thing I think people will get up in arms about – there is great emphasis on the applicants ability to integrate into Quebec society, with a particular focus on his respect for the Quebec values, as expressed in the Charte des droits et libertés de la personne. The government already denies for criminality, this, I think, is meant to enable the government to deny for people involved in unsavory things that fall well short of criminality. Wearing a burka, being a member of a fundamentalist religion that holds certain opinions about sexuality or gender, etc. Overall, I’m sure that the religious wackos probably preferred Canada to Quebec in the first place, and that this will not affect many people, but the number will be greater than zero.
(4) Finally, this introduces a visa category for those who are approved under this program. A huge problem with immigration in Quebec is that the workers do not go where they are needed. In many cases, once someone is approved in Quebec, they take off for Canada. In other cases, employer needs are calculated and people are admitted, but the people stay in Montreal where their services aren’t in demand, and they work in other employment. This fix would create a conditional residency period where people were approved provided that they actually do what they said they are applying for immigration to do. So, under the personalized evaluation, this could mean that they are working in their region or industry, and if they’re not, then they could be denied permanent residency. The Canadians have already ruled this out, but actually the entire country should adopt this idea, and if Quebec goes to war with Trudeau on this, the CPC could take the idea national and maybe win the election (certainly they could knock out a large number of PLC Quebec MPs) My guess is that the Liberals in Ottawa do some polling and allow it.
david100
I also think it was terribly stupid and unnecessary to cancel the pending applications. The government could simply have paused them, then evaluated them on their merits according to the new scheme, rejecting anyone who didn’t meet the new standard. Instead, they’ve introduced turmoil and a longer process for thousands. Moving to a tighter – and in many ways more reasonable – system doesn’t in any way require this cancellation. If the person is no longer qualified based on the new criteria, then simply deny them.
That said, all these French complaining in that article are a little much. Why would you buy a house in Mirabel if you’re here on a temporary work permit? Why would you feel entitled to complain that you won’t now get permanent residency before your working holiday visa expires? For those voicing concern that their occupations won’t qualify under the new criteria, it’s worth reminding people that immigrating to Quebec isn’t some constitutional right, especially in the Skilled Worker category. It’s meant to benefit Quebec by importing people with certain skills and experience. If those skills and experience are no longer in shortage, then, well, so much the worse.
david100
And yeah, it’s probably the case that they canceled all the applications in Quebec because they wanted to avoid the retroactivity headache.
Kate
david100, this is the second time recently you’ve said something along the lines of “prefer Canada to Quebec” – is it your view that Quebec is not part of Canada?
(Oh here we go, from a recent comment: “And that’s at the expense of Quebec more broadly, where investment in productive enterprises (as opposed to real estate) has always been higher than in Canada.”)
david100, it’s likely those French workers were actively encouraged to move to Quebec, and all but offered assurances they could stay if they wanted to. You can’t blame them for settling in.
david100
I don’t blame the French for planning to immigrate to Quebec, it’s a much better economy and certain sectors are positively on fire in Montreal. But I’m not all that sympathetic to people who really are exaggerating. Like, if I head over to France on a working holiday visa, apply for permanent residency then buy a house like I’m a settled person, or even just assume that I’ll be approved before my work permit expires so make no provisions for another scenario, I’ve really put myself in an unnecessarily bad situation if my application is denied or if the government changes the selection criteria. These French acting as though past Quebec government decisions mean that they’re simply entitled to immigration benefits, it’s too much for me.
And yeah, Quebec is part of Canada, but the province does all sorts of things differently, as you well know, including immigration and the broad approach to housing as an asset class. I guess in another era, I might have said Quebec vs. ROC.
Nick D
I am grateful to david100 for explaining this because I could not find a decent explanation of what the CAQ government has actually done in either Le Devoir or La Presse (both of them just using news agencies for their report — so Blogs 1, Trad News Media 0).
One general societal problem (which possibly led to the rise of the CAQ) is the lack of understanding of how our immigration system actually works (and the fact that the system changes every few years does not help). F. Legault’s incredible ignorance of how the system actually works was on display on multiple occasions during in the campaign, which speaks volumes.
After david100’s explanation, I can now see that this seems to be a very predictable CAQ move: the “Skilled Worker” program is to be honest misleadingly named: it’s the one that is not so much for francophone college-educated professional immigrants (since that is what the “Programme d’experience quebecoise” is for) but for those who do not qualify for that. In other words, the CAQ is following its ideology and trying to “reform” (er, cut) the immigration of “less skilled” or “less francophone” immigrants (or both). The term “skilled” does not mean doctors and research scientists and the like — they go through the PEQ.
Kate, I was going to point out that your initial post has some misleading phrasing – “permanent residents from France” — this seemed to me so incredible that I ‘clicked through’ — and I read the piece you link to and it’s clear that the French people quoted are not PRs already, they are on the work permit, and applying for the CSQ (the provincial thing you need before you apply to the federal government for PR) via the ‘skilled worker’ program — as David has already said.
The story linked to (about these French-French) does seem to imply that the people quoted might have been mis-advised and have chosen the skilled worker route when they really should have chosen PEQ (since they are now realizing this, and trying to change the route). Anyone who can use the PEQ route should have been told to use it, it’s much better. The only reason people tend to choose not to is if their French is not so good, but that can’t be true for native speakers or those who’ve been to college in a francophone place.
The difference between the programs is explained by a law firm (so caveat lector) here:
https://www.canadim.com/which-quebec-immigration-program-better-qsw-peq/(And I would totally agree that getting a mortgage when you are still at that stage is very risky, and I would blame the banks (or whatever lender) for pushing those loans on people.
Although the Canadian rules are set up so that non-PRs normally need a 20% down, there are some banks that seem to be willing to gamble on ‘highly skilled’ immigrants, even when they are still on a work permit, in order to get around this — when I arrived, 15 years ago nearly, the RBC had a special mortgage program for ‘professionals’, but it could only be used in the first year. I didn’t take it up and missed the window. Then you had to go back to the default system of needing a 20% down until you get PR status, and after that you are treated like every other person).david100
Yeah, my explanation had a few typos and transition errors, an important to note that’s not clear on re-read is that the shift in Quebec is away from a points system to an individual evaluation.
Also – the defining difference between the experience class and the skilled worker class is precisely that the person has studied or worked in Quebec. I think probably most of those French came over after school and worked on holiday visas, they already met the minimums for Skilled worker, so applied on that category and worked on the holiday visa while they waited for approval. You’re right that in the intermittent period, they have probably worked enough to make them eligible for experience class, but likely the skilled worker was the only way in at the time.
The big shift to requiring French makes a lot of sense, because so many people in skilled worker are intending immigrants to Ontario and BC who go through Quebec because it’s so much easier than hitting a high draw in Federal Skilled Worker. So, putting that hurdle of the French in there will weed out a lot of these people from India, etc. trying to game the system without any intent to stay in Quebec. The conditional immigration system is even more iron in the glove, if it comes to pass.
For these reasons, from the perspective of an intending immigrant, this isn’t a welcome change, from the perspective of the government, it’s should actually lead to MORE immigrants in Quebec rather than fewer – raw numbers of approvals will go down but the number staying should go up!
Kate
OK, I agree I probably didn’t understand the technicalities, but the articles that caught my eye were specifically about people who had invested time and money but are now finding their applications tossed out. The Journal talked to several people facing a sudden change in the political weather.
dhomas
I think Aislin got it right: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1151859/caricature-terry-mosher-aislin-signes-religieux
Su
In 2012, the “rest of Canada” did the same thing to revamp the skilled worker application backlog
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.1290847Chris
Or for a proper (non-google-AMP) link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-s-skilled-immigrants-backlog-to-be-eliminated-soon-1.1290847
-
Kate
A man who scavenges garbage around Montreal has posted his best finds from last year and some of them are stunning.
DeWolf
Thanks for the link. That is a fascinating blog.
Ian
I’ve been following that guy for a few years and it’s kind of astounding how much cash money he finds let alone all the other awesome stuff. Then again I used to work for a landlady and would find tons of amazing stuff from when people would move, especially students at end of term. Entire cupboards full of recently purchased food, for instance.
-
Kate
L’Itinéraire is marking its 25th anniversary but its existence is just as vulnerable as other print media. This week saw the end of the printed edition of Voir, for example, and Canadian Press just announced layoffs.
As someone running a news blog, I’m entirely reliant on news media as sources. I wonder what will happen to social media when it finally drives primary media to its death. Who will produce actual news then?
Hamza
This is admittedly a dark view of this problem but it feels like there might be a nexus of corporate and political interests in killing primary and investigative news.
qatzelok
The slow, agonizing death of commercial media underscores what an overall disaster it is to have profit-driven corporations choose our information for us.
Kate
We still have the CBC and Radio-Canada, although they’ve been chipped away over successive Conservative eras.
Patrick
It seems to me that there is a growing willingness to pay for media that do actual reporting, if what you get is worthwhile and delivered nicely. Like a number of my friends in Canada and the US, I subscribe to the premium Guardian app, which comes free of ads and offers a pleasant reading experience on my phone. I’m considering doing the same for La Presse, now that they are asking people to do so. Of course, I look at a lot of other sites, and I can’t subscribe to them all…(though I would to this one!).
Kate
I too am paying monthly for La Presse (not much, but chipping in) and annually for the Guardian. I wish I could do more but not as things stand.
-
Kate
Lasalle drivers will have a hell of a time soon, as work around the Angrignon interchange with the 20 begins.
Ian 22:30 on 2019-02-11 Permalink
I admit I’m both full of dread and excitement. I hope this is a year where we only get one major storm, the last couple of years we had this one in March – but it’s always spectacular to walk out onto my stoop in the morning and see nothing but a snowdrift where me steps were and vaguely car-shaped snowdrifts up and down the street. I just hope this time if it’s serious the schools cancel before we have done breakfasts and prepared lunches and struggled with snowsuits for the kids and are all on our way out the door, so we can sleep in instead.