As the housing crisis continues to grow, the Parti Québécois (PQ) will reassess permanent immigration thresholds, which are currently set at 35,000 new arrivals annually.

This was not something PQ leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon wanted to provide details on and he refused to say whether the Parti QuébécoisPQ is considering lowering its thresholds.

"We will recalculate, and when we do our work properly, we will come back to you," he indicated at a press conference in Alma on Wednesday, during his party’s preliminary conference.

During the last election in 2022, the Parti QuébécoisPQ announced it wanted to reduce the thresholds to 35,000 permanent immigrants per year.

However, Saint-Pierre Plamondon acknowledged that the situation has changed significantly since then.

"It is true that during the election, the housing crisis was not only severe and we did not have all the data, but the issue of temporary immigration was almost marginal," he said. "We talked about permanent immigration all the time."

The PQ leader directly linked the number of immigrants in Quebec to the housing crisis. He also intends to follow the lead of François Legault’s government on this issue during the upcoming parliamentary session starting in two weeks.

Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon also accused the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) of stalling in building new housing and lying to Quebec residents about immigration.

Saint-Pierre Plamondon also did not back down from his attacks on the federal government, citing an article published by the Canadian press which confirms that, according to internal documents, federal officials warned the Canadian government two years ago that large increases in immigration could affect the affordability of housing and services.

Meanwhile, Mr. [Mark] Miller [Federal Minister of Immigration] went public and said, “No, there is no problem. They [immigrants] will build the housing themselves.” The PKP party leader confirmed it was a deliberate lie with full knowledge of the facts.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently returned to the issue of immigration. He remains convinced that part of the solution to the housing crisis and labor shortage in the construction sector lies in welcoming more immigrants.

"The Cabinet"

Thanks to recent polls placing his party first, the leader of the Justice and Development Party is already thinking about the upcoming elections in 2026.

He plans to be less present in the National Assembly to travel to Quebec in 2024 to appoint his cabinet.

Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon also indicated that he will not be strict about gender equality and that he can choose candidates to achieve it, instead of leaving the choice to activists in open nominations.