«On ne vise pas à devenir l’Inde», dit le ministre Roberge sur la capacité d’accueil du Québec | “We don’t aim to become India,” says Minister Roberge on Quebec’s reception capacity

Translated Article:

> **”We don’t aim to become India,” says Minister Roberge on Quebec’s reception capacity**
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> The planned decline in immigration will negatively affect the economy, according to the budget documents.
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> Even if “the decrease in temporary and permanent immigration will limit the economic gains” of Quebec in the coming years, the CAQ government remains focused on reducing migratory thresholds. “We are not aiming to become India,” Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge said Thursday.
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> In a press scrum at the National Assembly, the Coalition Avenir Québec MP defended his decision to carry out “a control of our immigration.”
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> The day before, his colleague at Finance, Eric Girard, had attributed, in his 2026-2027 budget, part of the slow economic growth expected in the coming years to “the adjustment of temporary and permanent immigration.”
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> “The aging of the population and the decrease in temporary and permanent immigration will limit economic gains in the coming years,” says the Quebec budget plan, which forecasts real GDP growth of 1.1% in 2026 and 1.4% in 2027.
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> Late last year, Minister Roberge announced that the Quebec government would reduce its immigration rates from about 60,000 newcomers in 2025 to 45,000 per year from 2026 to 2029. It also plans to reduce the number of non-permanent residents in the programs it manages, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Student Program (ISP), by about 13 per cent.
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> These decisions have already had an impact, such as the federal government’s temporary immigration reduction measures. According to data from the Institut de la statistique du Québec, Quebec lost 51,413 non-permanent residents in 2025.
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> Asked about the content of the budget, on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Jean-François Roberge once again justified his immigration planning. “It takes, of course, an increase in productivity, but it also takes control of our immigration. We must receive a number of immigrants that we are able to welcome, not bet on more and more low-wage workers,” he said.
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> “We don’t aim to become India, we aim to become Switzerland,” he continued. “It’s better to be 9 million rich Quebecers than 15 million poor Quebecers.”
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> Referring to a specific page of the budget, Mr. Roberge noted that in 2022, 2023 and 2024, real GDP per capita had declined and then stagnated in Quebec. He noted that the number of immigrants in those years had risen to 69,000, 53,000 and then 60,000. “There has been, frankly, a slippage, a much too large increase in the Quebec population, especially [due] to temporary immigration linked to Ottawa’s loss of control,” he said.
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> Mr. Roberge noted that the same page of the Girard budget suggested an increase in GDP per capita in the coming years. An increase that coincides, he notes, with the reduction of immigration thresholds. “Between GDP and GDP per capita, the indicator to look at is GDP per capita,” he stressed.
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> Asked Wednesday about the Finance Ministry’s findings, Quebec Liberal Party parliamentary leader André Fortin said the drop in immigration was “a very bad signal for the economy in Quebec.”
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> At his side, his fellow MNA Frédéric Beauchemin repeated that his party was committed to reactivating the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ), abolished in November by the government, but did not go so far as to reiterate its commitment from the election campaign — to raise the thresholds to 70,000 newcomers per year. “We have to be more productive,” he said.
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> The Parti Québécois, for its part, continues to say that a downward adjustment in immigration “is necessary to restore balance in the economy.”

>”We don’t aim to become India, we aim to become Switzerland,” he continued. “It’s better to be 9 million rich Quebecers than 15 million poor Quebecers.”

That’s fair, but there is a third possibility – it is very possible to completely fail to become like Switzerland, and end up with 9 million poor Quebecers.

Ultimately, Switzerland is where it is because it serves as an entrepôt to the world – it is a global banking, trade and diplomatic hub. There are four different official languages (German, Italian, French and Romansh), and Switzerland describes itself as a territorial nation, rather than an ethnic or linguistic one. This multilingual nature historically helped the Swiss, given they could easily conduct business with all of Europe.

If Switzerland had been as militant as Québec is in terms of imposing one language and culture over all others even to the detriment of the economy, it would not be where it is. At the very least it would be considerably smaller, as the multilingual cantons would break away.

you want to know why non pur laine quebecers do not vote for parties like the PQ or CAQ? this is why. there is no place for anyone who is not white nor whose last name is Tremblay in quebec society according to these parties

It can’t be understated how radicalizing the governments immigration policy has been on this country.

Canadians used to be almost universally supportive of immigration, welcoming and accepting of cultural differences and generally open minded to the idea of sharing our wealth and resources with the global community.

All gone. I don’t know if this speaks more to the general incompetence of our leadership or the absolutely terrible behavior of these new immigrants but it’s bad. In, what, five years time, I’ve seen such an about-face from people in my own life from welcoming acceptance to full on racism. I don’t think we can ever go back. Something has fundamentally changed.

I got a warning from Reddit for say those exact words 🤣

You can always leave it to the Quebeckers to be blunt AF lol

They lying to us about the numbers too. Way more than they claim

The quebec govt is great at political theater on this topic. They just asked the federal govt for more temp workers and are pushing for more quotas yet they still do stupid statements like this. Even worse, zoning in on Indians specifically.

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If only the rest of Canada was more like Quebec, also it should be noted Quebec is also pushing for a per country cap which is something federally we should implement.

On one hand we have to acknowledge the importance of social cohesion, and that rapid increase in immigration is just going to tear Canada apart. Prime example is the European refugee crisis of 2015-2016 and it’s impact on EU.

On the other hand, We aren’t making enough babies…so Canada needs *skilled* immigrants to grow both in population AND productivity.

It’s always a fine balance for any government. JT really fucked it up. Carney is just trying to back us out of that hole…