Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge says his government will prioritize those who studied in Quebec and who work in certain sectors, like health care and education, when selecting permanent residents under the province’s recently-created skilled workers’ program this year.

The minister made the announcement at a news conference in Montreal Friday morning, saying he hopes this latest announcement will reassure immigrant workers who are already in the province and reduce tensions.

“There are people who are living with anxiety, people who are here in Quebec and who want to stay — people who work in our institutions, in our businesses,” Roberge said. “I am working so that those who speak French and who already live in Quebec can stay here.”

The province will begin sending out invitations at the end of every month, starting this week, to select nearly 29,000 permanent residents in Quebec this year, under the new skilled workers’ program known as the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ).

So far, the province sent out more than 2,500 invitations for permanent residency under the new program, the government said.

The province is prioritizing applicants from outside of Montreal and Laval. More than 64 per cent of the invitations sent out so far were sent to workers residing outside those regions.

WATCH | Here’s who gets priority under new program:

Quebec to prioritize applicants outside Montreal under new permanent residency program

Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s immigration minister, has come under fire after cutting an essential pathway to permanent residency in 2025, the Quebec Experience Program, also known by its French acronym PEQ. He’s attempting to calm the situation with a new program that will prioritize applicants working in specific fields, among other criteria.Exemptions refused once again

Roberge said this first round of invitations sets the tone for his government’s intentions for the year, while offering some foreseeability to potential applicants and meeting the province’s goal of having more selection over permanent residency applications.

The program replaced the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ), which had been a popular pathway to permanent residency for years, leaving thousands of foreign workers unsure of their future in the province.

Businesses, advocacy groups and mayors have called on Roberge to allow those already in the province to apply to the now-discontinued PEQ, with Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada calling the end of the program “a catastrophe” for the city.

But Roberge refused again to put exemptions in place on Friday.

“If we had processed all the files of all the people present in Quebec, we’d be talking about hundreds of thousands of people,” Roberge said.

According to Roberge’s office, there could be up to 400,000 people who could qualify for exemptions if they were to put them in place for the PEQ, but that’s assuming that everyone who is in Quebec on a temporary work permit would apply, which is not necessarily the case.

From 2021 to 2023, the province granted between 3,900 and 16,000 selection certificates through the PEQ.

“We would also have had to respect the program and have gone on a first-come, first-serve basis. That means choosing people who are not employed, who are less qualified, over health-care workers,” he argued.

Instead, he invited workers again to apply for permanent residency under the PSTQ.

Roberge said applications for permanent residency through the PEQ program that were sent in before it was abolished will still be processed.

3 priorities for selection

In addition to prioritizing candidates outside out of Montreal and Laval, Quebec will select the permanent residents this year based on three priorities: those who studied in Quebec, those who work in sectors including construction, health care, education, daycares and engineering, and those who are most likely to be integrated “economically and linguistically.”

They also need to meet certain requirements when it comes to their years of experience and their level of French.

Roberge also blamed the federal government for the stress and uncertainty business owners and temporary workers in the province are currently facing.

He called on Ottawa to renew temporary work permits for newcomers in the province, including those in Montreal and Laval, accusing the federal government of preventing much-needed workers from staying in the province.

“Even if I reinstated the PEQ right now, the federal government would still have to renew their temporary work permits,” Roberge said. “Our goal is to select a better profile for permanent residency. Our goal is not to expel people who are working in Quebec.”

Critics have panned the new program, and the refusal to allow for exemptions under the PEQ, as the skilled workers’ program is a more exclusive pathway to permanent residency that uses a complex scoring system, and many who would have qualified under the PEQ do not qualify under the PSTQ.

Just this week, a union representing professors at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) expressed concern that some 20 professors at the institution may not be able to stay in the province because of the abolition of the PEQ, adding to the calls for an exemption.

But Roberge believes that most of them would still qualify for the PSTQ.

“I was surprised and shocked to see UQAM professors … believe they wouldn’t be selected as permanent residents here,” Roberge said. “We want to keep those people here.” 

Workers remain in limbo

For some of the workers watching Roberge’s latest news conference, the minister’s comments were anything but reassuring.

“The [PSTQ] is very discriminatory because it does not give a chance to everybody, depending on where you are, you might be selected or not even though you might have the qualifications,” said Nadir Belaid, a Montreal spokesperson for Le Québec c’est nous aussi, a coalition representing newcomers against the abolition of the PEQ.

Belaid, a paralegal who studied in Montreal, has been in the province on a work permit, but he’s still waiting to hear back on his application through the skilled workers’ program.

“I’ve built my life here for six years now and I don’t see myself anywhere else,” he said.

WATCH | Montreal businesses say end of PEQ could be disastrous:

Businesses at risk of losing staff after Quebec slashes program for permanent residency

Quebec’s decision to slash a pathway to permanent residency is being felt by some businesses. A bakery in Montreal says it could lose several staff members, and workers could be kicked out of the country.

Gaëlle Marchand, a dental technologist in Quebec City, says her sector is facing a major labour shortage, but she too has yet to find out if she has to return to France.

“I am 45, it’s almost four years that I am here. I want to settle here, I want to buy a place, but I can’t because you can’t buy a home when you’re not sure if you can stay or not,” she said. “It puts our lives completely on hold. It’s inhumane.”

François Vincent, Quebec vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, agrees.

“[Workers] will have to fill more red tape, paperwork and not be sure they will be able to stay,” he said. “And we don’t think that these targets will meet the needs of small businesses.”

He said businesses in all sectors are dealing with a labour shortage in Quebec and will be harmed by the abolition of the PEQ.

“If the province wants to create a path for small businesses to lose contracts and have more burnouts, this is the way to go,” Vincent said.