Photo: Karoline Boucher The Canadian Press “When we go to the regions, there is not a single factory where we do not see many immigrants working, and if they were not there, we would be in trouble,” illustrated Éric Duhaime.
Isabelle Porter in Quebec
Published at 12:26 PM Updated at 3:51 PM
- Quebec
Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime defends immigrants and accuses the Legault government of “attacking” them every time it has a problem. However, he does not disagree with the idea of moving asylum seekers to other Canadian provinces.
“I'm tired of seeing the government, and then the Prime Minister, who, every time there's a problem, uses it to hit immigrants over the head, who even goes abroad to talk about it,” said Mr. Duhaime on Wednesday during a press briefing in Quebec City that focused on another subject.
“There are a lot of immigrants who have a very positive contribution to Quebec. When we go to the regions, there is not a single factory where we do not see many immigrants working, and if they were not there, we would be in trouble, and there are businesses in Quebec that would be struggling,” he said.
The PCQ leader was responding to a journalist who asked his opinion on François Legault’s proposal to move asylum seekers to other provinces.
On this specific question, Mr. Duhaime responded that he was not against it, but he believes that Mr. Legault is going about it the wrong way. “There is a consensus in Quebec that there are too many immigrants. […] It is a problem that is widespread,” he first responded.
“Should we force other provinces to welcome immigrants? ? That is another matter. […] I think we can negotiate it. If Mr. Legault had good relations with the other provinces, he could do it himself. But unfortunately, he has not maintained that, it does not interest him.”