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CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Liberals believe the government will impose a gag order on Quebec energy bill
Quebec Liberal Party interim Leader Marc Tanguay questions the government at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press) Everything suggests that the government will force the adoption of Bill 69 on energy by gag order, says the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ). The parliamentary session ends on Friday. 'With François Legault, gagging equals sloppiness, and we denounce it,' said interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay at a news conference Monday morning in Montreal. Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji accused the government of dragging its feet on Bill 69. 'As of today, we have lost 250 hours of detailed study. (...) This shows you how unprepared this government was to have a meaningful discussion about Quebec's energy future, and unfortunately, we are witnessing the politicization of energy rates by François Legault,' he said alongside his leader. Tanguay also criticized the bill. 'François Legault has decided to pass on the bill of 15 per cent and more over the last three years to our SMEs and businesses. In that sense, it's a bad bill,' he said. The Parti Québécois (PQ) also believes that the government will use gag orders and reiterates its request that the bill be withdrawn 'so that the minister can go back and do her homework.' 'The CAQ government has achieved a remarkable feat: it has managed to unite everyone against it. Neither civil society organizations, SMEs nor industries agree with the pile of amendments it tabled at the last minute. The CAQ government, which itself does not seem to understand the impact of these amendments, is creating even more confusion in a bill that was already a hodgepodge,' said PQ MNA Pascal Paradis in a written statement sent to The Canadian Press. Two weeks ago, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Christine Fréchette tabled 52 amendments to modify the legislative text. 'We are calling on the opposition to study the bill' Last week, Fréchette refused to commit to not passing her bill under closure. Her office told The Canadian Press that the bill had been studied for more than 100 hours, that there had been four briefings for the opposition parties, and that the amendments had been provided in advance. 'We are not using closure. We are calling on the opposition to study the bill,' the minister's communications director, Maxime Roy, said in a text message on Monday. A laborious process Introduced in June 2024, Bill 69 aims to give Hydro-Québec free rein to increase its electricity production. It was introduced by former super-minister Pierre Fitzgibbon before he resigned in September 2024. Fréchette took over, but the legislative process for the bill has been arduous. In December 2024, Fréchette cited Donald Trump and his threats of tariffs to justify the delays in moving the bill forward. Last February, it was the turn of the official Liberal opposition to delay consideration of the bill, also citing the American president. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 2, 2025.
CTV News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Whistleblower dismissed: Quebec Liberals suspect political pressure
Quebec Liberal Party interim Leader Marc Tanguay questions the government on the SAAQ and the report from the auditor general, at the legislature in Quebec City, Thursday, February 20, 2025 (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press) (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Quebec announces cap on international post-secondary students
The Quebec government is reducing the number of international students that can enrol in Quebec's post-secondary institutions in the fall by 20 per cent. The Immigration Ministry published the maximum number of applications it will process this year from new international students in Wednesday's edition of the province's Official Gazette. The quotas, which are broken down by institution and degree type, significantly reduce the number of international students that will be admitted into the province's collegiate network this fall. The government also stabilizes enrolment of international students into Quebec's universities according to 2024 levels. Student visas are issued by the federal government, however, in Quebec, students from abroad must also obtain a Québec Acceptance Certificate, known as a CAQ, from the provincial government. Prospective students need to obtain their CAQ before applying for a study permit. In 2024, the Education Ministry processed 48,748 CAQ applications by international students entering the collegiate network, according to data from the ministry obtained by Radio-Canada. That number is now capped at 29,200. The quota for universities stands at 63,299 applications. Including vocational colleges, Quebec will process a maximum of 124,760 applications between Feb. 26, 2025 and 2026 — 20 per cent less than last year. The Quebec government adopted a bill in December 2024, giving the Education Ministry the power to restrict enrolment of international students, in an effort to reduce overall immigration to the province. The number of international students in Quebec jumped by 140 per cent — from 50,000 to nearly 120,000 — between 2014 and 2023, according to a news release published Wednesday by the Immigration Ministry. Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau told reporters Wednesday morning that he welcomes the new quotas but wish they had come sooner. "It is in the direction of what we proposed last fall, but it's too little too late because [it's] more than doubled, they want to reduce it a bit," he said referring to the number of international students in the province. The interim leader of Quebec's Liberal Party Marc Tanguay, for his part, says that something has to be done about people who take advantage of Quebec's education system to immigrate into Canada, without closing the door on skilled labour. Many of the new quotas target Quebec's private colleges which have been used in the past as a pathway to immigration into the province. "Those who are not respecting the rules, they have to be stopped. That being said, to say that we will not continue our race to have people who are very skilled, talented, want to learn here, learn French and to live here in Quebec, I think we have to be careful and to be able to welcome them," said Tanguay. According to Université de Montréal rector Daniel Jutras, the quotas send the wrong message, he told Radio-Canada's Tout un matin. "International students have been placed in the same basket as those who maybe abuse the system and we're treating those people in the same way as someone who maybe is coming to Quebec to pursue a PhD in IT or a masters in social work," he said.
CBC
26-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Quebec announces cap on international post-secondary students
The Quebec government is reducing the number of international students that can enrol in Quebec's post-secondary institutions in the fall by 20 per cent. The Immigration Ministry published the maximum number of applications it will process this year from new international students in Wednesday's edition of the province's Official Gazette. The quotas, which are broken down by institution and degree type, significantly reduce the number of international students that will be admitted into the province's collegiate network this fall. The government also stabilizes enrolment of international students into Quebec's universities according to 2024 levels. Student visas are issued by the federal government, however, in Quebec, students from abroad must also obtain a Québec Acceptance Certificate, known as a CAQ, from the provincial government. Prospective students need to obtain their CAQ before applying for a study permit. In 2024, the Education Ministry processed 48,748 CAQ applications by international students entering the collegiate network, according to data from the ministry obtained by Radio-Canada. That number is now capped at 29,200. The quota for universities stands at 63,299 applications. Including vocational colleges, Quebec will process a maximum of 124,760 applications between Feb. 26, 2025 and 2026 — 20 per cent less than last year. The Quebec government adopted a bill in December 2024, giving the Education Ministry the power to restrict enrolment of international students, in an effort to reduce overall immigration to the province. The number of international students in Quebec jumped by 140 per cent — from 50,000 to nearly 120,000 — between 2014 and 2023, according to a news release published Wednesday by the Immigration Ministry. Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau told reporters Wednesday morning that he welcomes the new quotas but wish they had come sooner. "It is in the direction of what we proposed last fall, but it's too little too late because [it's] more than doubled, they want to reduce it a bit," he said referring to the number of international students in the province. The interim leader of Quebec's Liberal Party Marc Tanguay, for his part, says that something has to be done about people who take advantage of Quebec's education system to immigrate into Canada, without closing the door on skilled labour. Many of the new quotas target Quebec's private colleges which have been used in the past as a pathway to immigration into the province. "Those who are not respecting the rules, they have to be stopped. That being said, to say that we will not continue our race to have people who are very skilled, talented, want to learn here, learn French and to live here in Quebec, I think we have to be careful and to be able to welcome them," said Tanguay. According to Université de Montréal rector Daniel Jutras, the quotas send the wrong message, he told Radio-Canada's Tout un matin.
