In 2022, Quebec aims to welcome some 71,275 new permanent residents, bringing immigration to the province to a new high.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers have increased by more than 41.7% from the 50,285 applicants that were invited in 2021. The increase in immigration to Quebec this year was downplayed by the province’s minister of immigration, Jean Boulet, in an interview with Radio Canada, a French-language television network.
Boulet characterized this year’s spike in immigration as the government making up for losses brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak in response to lobbying from business and industry organizations to drastically expand Quebec’s immigration targets, a move the Parti Quebecois opposes.
In 2020, Quebec fell 18,775 permanent inhabitants short of its goal.
However, the 44,000 new permanent residents that were permitted under that multi-year plan in 2020 were not accepted by Quebec. Only 25,225 new permanent residents entered Quebec in that year.
The allotment for Quebec for this year now includes the 18,775 permanent residences that exist between those anticipated under the 2020 immigration objective and those that arrived in that year.
Immigration to Quebec is at an all-time high as a result of the prior shortfall being added to the 52,500 allocations for the current year under the multi-year plan.
Each year, 80,000 immigrants are anticipated in Quebec, according to business associations.
Véronique Proulx, president of the manufacturing and exporting sector association Manufacturers et Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ), reportedly suggested that the province welcomes up to 90,000 immigrants per year.
MEQ lobbied provincial political parties last week to adopt a number of measures to address the labor shortages, along with three other business organizations: the Conseil du Patronat du Québec (CPQ), the Fédération des Chambres de Commerce du Québec (FCCQ), and the Federation Canadienne de l’Entreprise Indépendante (FCEI).
