Federal election: Legault says immigration must be the issue at the ballot box

Quebec Premier Francois Legault holds a press conference in Louiseville on Aug. 15, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Quebec City — The ballot box issue in the next federal election must be reducing the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec, said Premier François Legault, who is even making it a condition for supporting a federal political party in the election.

"Each political party will have commitments to make, and the commitment that the federal parties will make to reducing the number of temporary immigrants in the short term will be very important in determining whether or not I support a political party," he said at a press scrum in Baie-Comeau on Friday.

During the last federal election in 2021, Legault supported the Conservative Party, led at the time by Erin O'Toole. Asked whether he might do the same and support leader Pierre Poilievre, Legault said it was "far too early to answer that question."

The premier took the opportunity to reiterate that he does not understand why the Bloc Québécois has pledged not to bring down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government without obtaining guarantees on the issue of immigration.

"The Bloc Québécois, a sister party of the Parti Québécois, is going to save Mr. Trudeau's government without asking for anything in return," he said.

"I am defending the interests of Quebecers, and defending the interests of Quebecers means demanding that Mr. Trudeau cut the number of temporary immigrants to Quebec in half," the premier said.

On Thursday, Legault took everyone by surprise by asking the Bloc to vote with Poilievre's Conservatives on their non-confidence motion aimed at bringing down the Trudeau government.

The Bloc had already said it would vote against the Conservative motion and Legault's questioning did not change the mind of Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet.

"It's still no," he wrote on X.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) also signalled on Thursday that it would reject the Conservative motion to bring down the Liberal government.

The federal Liberals are in the minority and need the support of one of the opposition parties to stay in power. This means that even if the Bloc were to vote with the Conservatives, the Liberal Party of Canada would remain in power thanks to the NDP.

Legault repeated that the "number of temporary immigrants has risen from 300,000 to 600,000" in Quebec and that this is causing "serious problems for housing, services and the future of the French language."

Relations have been strained between the Legault government and the Bloc Québécois for several months.

On Feb. 20, in the middle of question period, the premier questioned the usefulness of the Bloc.

"What good is the Bloc Québécois in Ottawa? What good is it? What good is it?" said Legault in response to a question from the Parti Québécois leader.

The following month, it was Blanchet's turn to fire several jabs at the Quebec premier, claiming that his strategy for dealing with the federal government on immigration and for recovering money from health transfers had not worked.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 20, 2024.