City strikes $158M cultural deal with Quebec
The city has struck a deal for $158 million over 3 years with Quebec for cultural activities, and the mayor has put up $600,000 for three years for nightlife.
At the same time, Quebec has submitted a shopping list to Ottawa for bigger health transfers with no conditions, more control over immigration to require French fluency from new arrivals, and more money for housing with no conditions.
As has crossed my mind from time to time, Quebec has a tendency to sound like a teenager reaching adulthood who wants to be free to do what he pleases, but still demands his parents fund his activities.
Tim S. 17:50 on 2021-08-26 Permalink
Well, we have a system where the federal government collects lots of taxes, but apart from the military most of the expensive obligations fall on provincial governments. So I don’t necessarily blame Quebec here.
Kate 18:19 on 2021-08-26 Permalink
I don’t really get the immigration thing in one sense. Does anything stop a person from immigrating to any other province, then moving to Quebec?
dwgs 21:43 on 2021-08-26 Permalink
Really Tim? This took me exactly 7 seconds to find, https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/programs/federal-transfers/major-federal-transfers.html#Quebec
Kevin 22:01 on 2021-08-26 Permalink
Nothing stops an immigrant from moving anywhere once they’re in.
Quebec actually makes it easier for rich people to immigrate, and they then frequently move to another province.
Kate 22:03 on 2021-08-26 Permalink
Kevin, does any other province make up separate rules for immigration?
JaneyB 22:36 on 2021-08-26 Permalink
@Kate – yes, a number of provinces have special deals with the feds. I know Manitoba and I assume other smaller provinces tend to lose locals to the big cities so they’ve negotiated special arrangements to fill those gaps with immigrants that will fit with local conditions (specialized labour niches, filling up small towns etc). Of course, QC pioneered this space with Ottawa but other provinces use it too.
Kate 08:41 on 2021-08-27 Permalink
JaneyB, that’s interesting. Do people have to agree to live in rural locations or small towns for a specified period of time? Surely their children won’t be bound to the same conditions?
Myles 09:04 on 2021-08-27 Permalink
For Quebec, you have to sign a document saying you intend to reside in Quebec after getting permanent residency. At least back when I went through the process, there was no minimum duration specified. Theoretically, those who never intended to stay can have their PR revoked for lying on the application. But I imagine it’s very difficult to prove that someone didn’t really intend to stay at the time.
steph 10:20 on 2021-08-27 Permalink
Theirs no legal force behind the document. In some communities they discuss openly the idea of using the quebec immigration process as it’s easier and cheaper than the ROC. It’s almost like a buisness service and quebec is undercutting the competition. Is it to our advantage that we meet immigration quotas on paper whithout the advantage of the population growth that immigration is supposed to bring us? –I’m certain many quebecers are happy that the pesky foreigners are staying away.
mare 11:43 on 2021-08-27 Permalink
From my own experience it’s not easier to immigrate to Quebec for a permanent resident visa, it adds an extra step —the Quebec Selection Certificate— and coordination between feds and province isn’t necessarily great (in my case it was terrible and they were both waiting on each other for documents). Investor visas are easier, but specifically require investments in Quebec, so harder to immediately move to other provinces.
However Quebec does hand out lots of 2-year temporary work visas with lower requirements than Canada’s, and they can be a stepping stone to acquiring permanent residency, Being a francophone does help (a lot?) to get those visas, and they aren’t outright valid to work in the RoC.
Selecting and admitting unilingual francophones also helps to keep them in Quebec of course, so not speaking English might get you unofficial bonus points.
Tim S. 15:33 on 2021-08-27 Permalink
dwgs – I have no opinion about whether the transfers are sufficient. Just that in peacetime provincial governments need the money more than the feds. Education, health care, welfare, are all provincial responsibilities according to the constitution. They’re expensive.
Joey 16:14 on 2021-08-27 Permalink
“Federalisme rentable” is what unites all successful Quebec political parties. If the federal government is going to insist on policymaking in areas of provincial jurisdiction (only for the last 150 years or so), it only makes sense for premiers to develop shopping lists during federal campaigns.
dwgs 14:43 on 2021-08-28 Permalink
Tim, and if you looked at the link you’ll see that this year the feds are transferring 9.7 billion to Qc for healthcare and almost 3.5 billion for social programs as well as 13 billion in equalization payments so I would say that the province has plenty of financial help for those programs that fall within its jurisdiction.
JaneyB 18:40 on 2021-08-28 Permalink
@Kate – I don’t think immigrants can be legally forced to stay anywhere though for country doctors, I have a hunch there’s a legal obligation connected to their licence eg: willing to stay in Small Town MB for 5 years, gets fast-tracked.
In the Bible Belt of Manitoba, the Mennonites bring in people from the diaspora and those immigrants are delighted to be there. They stay and those towns are booming. Some other towns have a major factory and have filled it full of one group (Filipinos esp). They stay because then they have their own little community but they are free to move and likely some of their kids do. It’s easy to forget that some portion of immigrants are from smaller towns and less busy provinces; they prefer to maintain that lifestyle and if they’ve got a job offer, it’s a no-brainer.