On Friday November 1, the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum welcomed the Honourable Marc Miller, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and Member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs. Minister Miller made history in 2017 by delivering a statement in the House of Commons entirely in Mohawk language. It was the first time the language had been spoken in the House of Commons or the Senate since Confederation.
Presented by Alexe Constantineau, coordinator in the Organizations and Stakeholders group at NATIONAL Montreal, Minister Miller spoke to the guests and members of the Forum about an aspect of the immigration file that, in his opinion, has been somewhat lost in the current public debate: The importance of the three-decade relationship between Ottawa and Quebec on immigration matters, which, according to the Minister, has made it possible to guarantee Francophone immigration.
Mr Miller believes that many provinces are envious of this important relationship, which allows Quebec to have access to significant sums of money to ensure successful immigration and maintain, among other things, the significant impact of so-called economic immigration, which accounts for 60% of new arrivals, compared with 25% in the United States. The arrival of these people, who bring expertise and capital, has a direct impact on the economy, the GDP, and the rejuvenation of the workforce, according to the Honourable Miller. What's more, 20% of new arrivals are welcomed for humanitarian reasons, and the same proportion of immigrants are welcomed as part of efforts to reunite families.
As everyone has seen, Ottawa's plan to reduce immigration has led to some difficult decisions, acknowledges Minister Miller. But it is impossible to maintain temporary immigration at its current level, because it exceeds the country's capacity to receive immigrants. Having opened the floodgates at the end of the pandemic period, Canada must now reduce the rate at which it welcomes temporary immigrants, even though many employers would like the opposite.
Following his presentation, Minister Miller was kind enough to take part in a discussion with Forum members, moderated by Marc Desmarais, Vice-President, Government Affairs - Ottawa, at NATIONAL.
From left to right: Martin Daraiche, President and Managing Partner at NATIONAL; Marc Desmarais, Vice-President, Government Affairs - Ottawa at NATIONAL; Alexe Constantineau, Coordinator, Organizations and Stakeholders, at NATIONAL Montreal; the Honourable Marc Miller; and Mirabel Paquette, Partner and Senior Vice-President, Corporate Communications at NATIONAL Montreal and Coordinator of the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum.
About Forum Ghislain Dufour du monde des affairesR
The Ghislain Dufour Business Forum allows business people to meet and engage in dialogue with Quebec and Canadian political and business figures, political advisors or high-level public administrators on an apolitical and non-partisan basis. For more information, visit the event page.
