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The new Parti Québécois (PQ) government has proposed limiting Quebec’s share of all asylum seekers in Canada to 22 per cent, roughly the provinces’ share of the national population, until Quebec “becomes independent.”

The proposal responds to real cost pressures that were repeatedly cited by the previous Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government. However, the PQ’s 12-point immigration plan does not clearly explain whether it intends to pursue this goal through negotiations with Ottawa or through unilateral provincial measures.

The PQ’s proposal goes further than simply asking Ottawa to reduce Quebec’s share of asylum seekers. Its detailed immigration plan says a PQ government would seek to determine which claimants could remain in Quebec, giving priority to French speakers, then people with close family in the province and finally others who wish to settle there, until Quebec reached its demographic share of asylum seekers.

It would then ask Ottawa to relocate additional claimants elsewhere in Canada. This raises a fundamental legal question about the limits of Quebec’s authority over asylum – a field largely governed by federal law.

The 12-point immigration plan also addresses other areas, such as permanent resident selection, temporary foreign workers, international students, French-language requirements and university funding – areas where Quebec has varying degrees of authority and the minority PQ government can act with the support of other parties in the........

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