, 10.30.2019 08:38 AM

And Canada becomes a little less of a country

And our federal leaders say nothing.  Oh, and our Prime Minister says he’s okay with “values tests.”

Does anyone care about what is happening, here?

Immigrants who want to settle in Quebec will soon be required to pass a values test.

Starting Jan. 1, they will have to prove they have learned “democratic values and Quebec values” in order to obtain a selection certificate, the first step toward permanent residency for those who want to live in the province.

The test was a key election promise made by the Coalition Avenir Québec.

It is still unclear exactly what questions will be asked on the test, but the values are defined as those expressed in Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Premier François Legault was able to bypass Ottawa by deciding to administer the test during the selection process, which is Quebec’s jurisdiction, instead of during the permanent residency process, which is Canadian jurisdiction.

All adult immigration applicants and their accompanying family members will be required to pass the test if they want to move to Quebec, the government announced in the official Gazette Wednesday.

 

21 Comments

  1. the real Sean says:

    PM Zoolander’s advisors make sure that he only stands up for stuff when it doesn’t matter. Like apologizing for the actions of people who are deceased…. Doing something for the living can get very be complicated. Its the secret to his success.

    • Anthony Sandler says:

      The Global News article you linked to specifically says Trudeau never used the word “values” and yet you use quotes around “values test”. What gives?

  2. Dave says:

    Wasn’t there a conservative candidate that favoured a values test ?

    • Chris says:

      She was from Ontario, and was a Conservative, thus was easily and quickly removed from the public sphere. One must not question anyone or anything that comes out of Quebec whether that is a law, or a Prime Minister, or a favoured corporation, or a Demarais family member.

  3. I can’t wait for the two judgments in Quebec Superior Court. Things will get pretty interesting for Legault.

  4. Leo Fleming says:

    I’m sure Trudeau is hoping that they include a question on abortion. Answer wrong, and you don’t get in.

  5. Edward Brooks says:

    I wonder if there are a significant number of ‘eligible’ applicants that want to move to Quebec. An aging population, compounded by a low birth rate… maybe there will be no-one left in the province at some point in the future.

    Really, are there that many people that look at Quebec as an ideal location to emigrate to, that the government can be so selective?

    • Chris says:

      If you come from the tragedy that is Haiti I’m sure Montreal, even in winter, must seem like some sort of paradise.

  6. Phil says:

    Well your haircut story raises those little hairs on the back of you neck doesn’t it?

    I suppose my answer to what is wrong with a values test is just who has the privilege of determining those values?
    Say for example in Catholic Quebec things had turned out differently and they did not drift so far to secularism. What if THAT Quebec refused YOU entry because you did not believe in what someone of Catholic faith refers to as God?

    Like you, I have no deep knowledge of the values test but I have a big problem with letting anyone make those rules for me.

    This butcher/barber is a pretty good example of the type of values we don’t generally share nor want in Canada. Just what values test screens him out? I don’t have the answer but until we can have a mature conversation of what Canadian Values are, how do we mandate them?

    Quebeckers frankly have a very different view of what is racist because they feel very different from all the Anglophones around them. Some others may feel their views on race are well racist but I think a lot of us have to come to terms with our tribal nature. We like what we know. Because we don’t know someone else’s culture we start with fear.

    It is when fear grows to hate that things get scary.

    Legault is tapping into his constituents fear he is not the first to do it and some may find his solution quite acceptable. As I age I don’t have the energy to fight changes and accept people for who they are. Piss me off, different story but I don’t have solutions like the barber, just wouldn’t waste time with people who hate.

    • Peter says:

      He was very foolish to talk like that, but I find that story sad. We have become to expect immigrants to arrive speaking perfect English or French and send their kids to hockey practice or dance class straight from the tarmac. It’s a process that takes at least a generation and the first generation never completely stops thinking in the old ways. He may have been undesirable, but especially if he was older, he may have just been a bit like the adored, devoted grandfather who interrupts a family discussion on school discipline by saying the problems could all be solved by bringing back the strap. If he was otherwise as admirable as you say, I wouldn’t put him on a plane just for that.

      I find these values tests silly and something only a civil servant would think effective, but I can’t get too agitated about them either. That said, I have to wonder whether some of my 100% modern Canadian co-citizens wouldn’t even be here if their parents or grandparents had to take language or values tests.

    • Walter says:

      I’d rather trust a values test, where there is openness about what the values are.
      The opposite would be a system where immigration officials secretly prioritize certain people of certain opinions and we end up with your barber.

    • Oscoe Blauq says:

      You make some good points. As far as other cultures go, I’m fine and find different cultures quite interesting.

      That doesn’t mean I find them all good, or acceptable, by any standards. There are just some cultures cultural aspects that don’t belong here, and never should, period. Or anywhere, for that matter.

      I know someone who did a tour of Afghanistan. Told me in some villages it was the norm for men to take orphaned young boys & dress them up as girls then have sex with them. I’m guessing it was to the women could stay “pure” and the single men could still satisfy their sexual urges.

      Now, I don’t care how “cultural” that is or now many centuries they’ve been doing it. It’s wrong, full stop.

      Another time a boy about 6 was brought in with a large knife buried halfway in the side of his head. I saw the picture, it was around 10 years ago and I’m still fucking disturbed by it. He said the boy was caught stealing food and this was the punishment the ruling village tribal elder meted out.

      Again, just wrong.

  7. joe says:

    People whom Premier Legault would consider as undesirable for Quebec will simply lie to pass the test.

    The PM lies, so is lying to be a core value for our society?

    • Derek Pearce says:

      Bingo. You can lie to get into club you want to. How do you think cops or activists infiltrate gangs or neo-Nazi organizations? All this test will prove is how well you can fudge the test, not what your ACTUAL values are. So silly.
      It reminds me of that Canuck reporter/publisher Scott Taylor who “converted to Islam” to save his life (he faked it) when captured by Ansar-al-Islam in Iraq and then released. Same freakin’ type of situation minus the being at gunpoint.

  8. MikeTO says:

    Why would a nation not have any say in who it welcomes to become part of that nation? Makes no sense whatsoever.

  9. Walter says:

    This is not an issue about a values test – it is an issue about hypocrisy.
    And those 33% that support hypocrisy will say nothing.

  10. The Doctor says:

    Oh come on everyone, remember, Alberta is the evil one. Get with the progressive program here!

  11. Anthony Sandler says:

    The Global News article you linked to specifically says Trudeau never used the word “values” and yet you use quotes around “values test”. What gives?

  12. Doug says:

    The notion that Provinces have any jurisdiction over immigration is absurd. Do immigrants “selected” by a Province wear ankle bracelets that trigger alarms if they move to another Province? A country is a geography which permits unrestricted movement of people, goods and services. It is not, as political parties increasing promote, a collection of shared values. Successive federal governments have retreated from their core responsibilities by failing to exert absolute jurisdiction on matters like immigration and trade while violating provincial control of health, education and reseouce development. Weak leadership, especially pandering to Quebec, has placed this country in a downward spiralm

    • Jim R says:

      Apparently the majority of immigrants that Quebec gets from the Immigrant Investor Program leave the province. The result is that Quebec reaps the benefits of the interest free loans these people pony up, and other areas (like Vancouver and Toronto) have to deal with the home affordability fallout from having rich immigrants move in and drive up housing costs.

      The federal government was quite right (although way too late in doing so) to terminate the federal version of the program. Unfortunately, the Quebec version of it is still going and that’s unlikely to change unless the federal government somehow grows a backbone.

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