Bernard Drainville

Drainville would limit exemptions to roughly 18,000 temporary workers in targeted sectors such as construction and education, opposing a broader reinstatement of the PEQ and arguing that high temporary immigration levels strain schools and public services.

Drainville is proposing a 'limited acquired right' for PEQ applicants and says his plan would produce about 18,000 new permanent residents, indicating he favors a substantially smaller transitional intake than the larger, unspecified figures he attributes to his rival.

Drainville commits to exempting about 18,000 people already in Quebec when the PEQ was abolished—prioritizing workers in sectors like education and construction—allowing them to apply for PEQ selection certificates and subtracting them from another temporary-immigrant category.

Drainville opposes the Supreme Court ruling, calling it 'a slap in the face' to Quebecers waiting years for subsidized daycare; he criticizes giving refugee claimants access over taxpaying residents and deems the decision unacceptable.

He proposes granting acquired rights to some immigrant workers—those who have lived in Quebec at least two years, speak intermediate French, and work in priority sectors—while reducing future temporary foreign-worker numbers by the same amount for each acquired-rights recipient.