An immigration debate shakes up Quebec’s election

ON A sweltering Sunday afternoon in Old Montreal, the first of dozens of people began arriving at Quebec’s immigration department armed with folding chairs. They were intent on being near the front of the queue the next morning, September 17th, when the province’s government began accepting the first of only 750 applications for private citizens to sponsor refugees. The fact that Montrealers were prepared to sit outside all night to bring in more refugees shows why François Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, has tripped up on the path to victory in the election for the provincial parliament on October 1st.

After almost 15 years of a Liberal government, Quebeckers are open to change. The Coalition’s promise not to support independence means that for the first time in a generation voters who want to remain in Canada do not have to choose the Liberals, the only big party in Quebec that favours staying in. Mr Legault has come unstuck with his populist impulse to back a plan to cut immigration by 20% from 52,000 last year, subject immigrants to a language and values test and expel those who fail it.