Article content

It will be up to Ottawa — not Quebec — to decide what happens to immigrants who fail the values and French tests that the Coalition Avenir Québec wants to introduce, leader François Legault said on Friday.

“Ask that to Mr. Trudeau,” Legault said. “It’s not my responsibility. I’m trying to become premier of Quebec, not prime minister of Canada.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Quebec election: Immigrants who fail values test will be Ottawa's responsibility, not Quebec's, Legault says Back to video

If the CAQ is elected on Oct. 1, it would require economic immigrants to Quebec to pass tests on the province’s values and language within three years in order to obtain a Quebec Selection Certificate. Immigrants who come to Canada through Quebec’s economic immigration system need that certificate before they can apply for permanent residency from the federal government.

“There’s an agreement right now between Canada and Quebec regarding economic immigration. In this agreement, it says that the Quebec government decides, for the first step, to issue or not (issue) a selection certificate,” Legault said. “If we don’t issue the selection certificate, it becomes the responsibility of the federal government, if you have questions after that, you must ask Mr. Trudeau’s government.”