{"id":469311,"date":"2026-02-12T02:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/469311\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T02:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:49:08","slug":"with-new-hospital-set-to-open-officials-west-of-montreal-urge-quebec-to-keep-peq-applicants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/469311\/","title":{"rendered":"With new hospital set to open, officials west of Montreal urge Quebec to keep PEQ applicants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Facing a critical labour shortage, officials in Vaudreuil-Soulanges are demanding that the Quebec government exempt applicants of the province’s scrapped immigration pathway so they can keep working in the region.<\/p>\n

As the region west of Montreal prepares to open a new hospital in 2028, which is expected to generate 3,500 new jobs, officials and employers say Quebec’s immigration pathway overhaul has come at “the worst possible time.”<\/p>\n

Since abolishing the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) in November 2025, the Legault government has faced a firestorm over the uncertainty left for immigrants already living and working in the province.<\/p>\n

The PEQ fast-tracked permanent residency for people already living in Quebec through two streams: one for temporary foreign workers and another for Quebec graduates.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Legault government has said pending applicants must reapply through the Skilled Worker Selection Program<\/a> (PSTQ), which has different selection criteria.<\/p>\n

Vaudreuil-Soulanges’s demand comes a day after both candidates in the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) leadership race \u2014 Bernard Drainville and Christine Fr\u00e9chette \u2014 shared their plans to exempt PEQ applicants<\/a> from having to reapply for permanent residency through the PSTQ. Outgoing Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault, the CAQ’s only leader to date, resigned from his post in January.<\/p>\n

Calling the policy uncertainty “catastrophic” for families, Notre-Dame-de-l\u2019\u00cele-Perrot Mayor Danie Desch\u00eanes urged the government to realize that international recruitment is a necessity for the region.<\/p>\n

“We can’t stand idly by and allow this talent to move away for the benefit of our neighbours,” Desch\u00eanes said at a news conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Hear from some of the people affected:\"\"<\/p>\n

Meet some workers, employers in limbo west of Montreal over PEQ uncertainty<\/p>\n

In growing communities near the Ontario border, with a new hospital under construction, there are labour shortage concerns as Quebec makes changes to a key immigration pathway to permanent residency. <\/p>\n

Pierjean Savard, president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des chambres de commerce du Qu\u00e9bec, was among a handful of speakers who contrasted the turmoil of Quebec’s immigration system with the efficiency of Ontario’s Express Entry system streams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Savard noted that about 1,000 jobs in Vaudreuil-Soulanges are currently vacant.<\/p>\n

The unemployment rate posted in January for the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie is 4.9 per cent<\/a>, according to the Institut de la statistique du Qu\u00e9bec. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec said in an email on Wednesday that it is working closely with the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie West health authority \u2014 the CISSS de la Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie-Ouest \u2014 on workforce planning ahead of the hospital opening.<\/p>\n

“Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec is closely monitoring developments regarding the PEQ, as immigration mechanisms are one of the key tools available for recruiting skilled talent,” the statement reads.<\/p>\n

What Fr\u00e9chette and Drainville are offering<\/p>\n

Both CAQ leadership candidates insist the PSTQ is the best pathway for accommodating the municipality, as the new program gives the government the flexibility to choose immigrants based on regions’ specific needs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With either Drainville or Fr\u00e9chette becoming the next premier, rules surrounding Quebec’s immigration stand to change when the new CAQ leader is decided in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the candidates have taken jabs at each other’s proposed exemptions for PEQ applicants, both are in favour of making exceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | What the candidates are promising:\"\"<\/p>\n

Quebec could bring back scrapped PEQ immigration program under new CAQ leader<\/p>\n

Amid growing backlash after the Quebec government eliminated the Programme de l’exp\u00e9rience qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise, a popular pathway to permanent residency that the CAQ government is replacing with a new program, the candidates to replace Fran\u00e7ois Legault as party leader and premier in the coming months have both indicated interest in reviving the PEQ in one way or another. <\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette said she would reactivate the PEQ for two years, to exempt applicants who were in Quebec before the government abolished the program. She also said she would reduce invitations under the PSTQ by the same number to respect the province’s immigration thresholds.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Drainville promised to exempt French-speaking skilled workers in health care, education, construction and specialized manufacturing who settled in Quebec before the program’s end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roberge to look into ‘transitional measures’<\/p>\n

Immigration Minister Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Roberge took to social media Wednesday to say he’s ordered a study of “various transitional measures” for economic immigration pathways in Quebec in light of his ministry abolishing the PEQ. He said findings would be presented to the next CAQ leader and premier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"manImmigration Minister Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Roberge is appealing to the federal government to renew the workers’ permit of non-permanent residents in Quebec who live outside of Montreal and Laval. (Sylvain Roy Roussel\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n

However, like Legault<\/a>, Roberge maintains that the PSTQ is the “way forward” for immigration in Quebec that aligns with the government’s priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To preserve Quebec’s social and economic fabric, Roberge wrote, “the federal government must renew the work permits of temporary status workers outside of Montreal and Laval and act in a more targeted manner within those two cities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-469311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}