Integration of newcomers takes centre stage as PQ leader unveils his party's immigration plank

The Opposition Parti Qubcois wants more immigrants to settle outside Montreal and to have a goodgrasp of the French language before they arrive in Quebec.

PQ Leader Jean-FranoisLiseunveiled his party's immigration policy Tuesday, on the same day Premier Philippe Couillard outlined his government's plans to address the province's labour shortage.

Immigration and the integration of arrivals haveemerged as key issues in the lead-up to the Oct. 1 election. TheCoalitionAvenirQubec made its own immigration policies public last week.

A PQ government, Lise said, would strive to have atleast 25 per cent of new arrivals live in the regions.Currently, only about 10 per cent settleoutside the province's largest city, he said.

He said the PQ would put an emphasis on fast-tracking immigrantswho have a job offer.

"A path to success is not bringing people in and saying, 'Well, let's see what happens.' A path to success is linking an immigration candidate to a job," he said Tuesday at a news conference in Montreal.

Understanding French key, PQ says

Lisesaid a PQ government would also put a greater emphasis on potential immigrants' grasp ofFrench.He pointed to the U.K., Holland and Germany as countries that stresshaving a knowledge of the local language in theirimmigration policy.

He said that between2014 and 2017, up to45 per cent of immigrants who arrived in Quebec left for other parts of Canada. During the same period,60 per cent of immigrants to Quebec didn't speak French, and only 40 per cent of those took French courses, he said.

"We know that the people who do not speak the language are the first to leave (for elsewhere in Canada)," he said.

"We will calibrate this request given the complexity of the task. If you're hired to go work at a McDonald's in Val-d'Orthat's a real example you don't have to have intermediate or advanced French. If you want to go work in computers,you need to have intermediate or advanced French."

Bring me workers, from anywhere. Any colour, any religion, any language. I want workers.- Premier Philippe Couillard, on what he hears in the regions

In aninterview later with Radio-Canada, Lise called the current system under the Liberals a "total failure." He wouldn't set a specific target for immigrants but said it would be less, at least initially, than the 53,000 admittedlast year.

Province needs workers, Couillard says

Couillard, meanwhile, outlined a$1.3-billion, five-year plan to address the province's labour shortage by getting more people into the workforce. Like Lise, Couillard committed to bringing moreimmigrants to the regions.

He said he keeps hearing the same message around Quebec: "Bring me workers, from anywhere. Any colour, any religion, any language. I want workers."

"That's what I hear in my region now, and that's far away from Montreal," said Couillard, the MNAfor Roberval, on the southwest shore of Lac Saint-Jean.

CouillardcommendedLisefor proposingsolutions to the labour shortage. He said only one party the CAQ, which happens to be leading in the polls isn't taking the issue seriously.

Last week, theCAQsaid it wouldrequire immigrants to pass a values and language testor facebeing reported to Canadian immigration officials.

The party also reiterated its promise to cut the currentimmigration rateby roughly 20 per cent, to 40,000per year.

Lise didn't set a target Tuesday for the number of immigrants a PQ government would bring in annually.