Jean-François Roberge

Roberge ended Quebec’s Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ), removing a fast-track to permanent residency and directing temporary foreign workers to the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ); he said his reaction to federal renewal measures was mixed.

Roberge defends abolishing the PEQ and replacing it with the more restrictive PSTQ, arguing it will better target the workers most urgently needed. He refuses exemptions for those already in Quebec and invited 'PEQ orphans' to apply under the PSTQ.

Roberge says Quebec will prioritize permanent-residency applicants who studied in Quebec, speak French, already live in the province, and work in priority sectors such as health care and education, will favor applicants outside Montreal/Laval, and he refused blanket PEQ exemptions.

Roberge urges the federal government to grant a grandfather-clause exemption allowing non-permanent residents (temporary workers) living outside Montreal and Laval to renew their work permits and remain in Quebec while their immigration applications are assessed.

He supports Bill 9 and personally tabled the legislation that pre-emptively invokes the notwithstanding clause to shield it from Charter challenges; he described the bill as ensuring the "religious neutrality of the state" and "equality for all citizens."

Jean-François Roberge supports removing the British crown from Quebec's coat of arms and other measures to reduce ties to the monarchy, noting the emblem hasn't been changed in nearly 90 years and that it's time to 'turn the page on the monarchy.'

Jean-François Roberge voted in favour of the party resolution calling for a complete ban on face coverings, saying such a ban would reinforce public security and promote state secularism, while noting legal and rights issues and that it's premature to decide.

Roberge says Ottawa's intervention is hypocritical and a direct attack on Bill 21; he defends Quebec lawmakers' right to use the notwithstanding clause to protect the secularism law and rejects federal attempts to limit that protection.

Jean-François Roberge supports strengthening Quebec secularism and will introduce a bill this fall to ban street prayers; he calls the proliferation of street prayer a serious and sensitive issue and intends to fulfil his mandate.