{"id":49894,"date":"2026-03-27T11:39:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/49894\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T11:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:39:23","slug":"the-pqs-promise-of-a-denmark-like-crackdown-on-immigration-could-be-a-vote-getter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/49894\/","title":{"rendered":"The PQ\u2019s promise of a Denmark-like crackdown on immigration could be a vote-getter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says the province must adopt hardline immigration policies similar to Denmark to save social programs.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

From the moment of its founding, in 1968, the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois looked to Scandinavia as the model for the social-democratic society it hoped to create in an independent Quebec. <\/p>\n

Replicating the postwar Swedish model of pro-worker welfare state policies was at the heart of the PQ\u2019s 1980 referendum platform, just as much as the protection of Quebec\u2019s language and culture, helping the party win the loyalty of the province\u2019s union movement. <\/p>\n

In 1995, as right-leaning governments in Alberta and Ontario cracked down on welfare recipients, the PQ once again put its social-democratic ideology at the forefront of that year\u2019s referendum campaign. The Yes side\u2019s manifesto cited Norway\u2019s job-training programs as the template for the full-employment policies that a sovereign Quebec would adopt.<\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois stays course on referendum despite Carney\u2019s call for unity<\/a><\/p>\n

Under current PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the party is once again taking its cue from Scandinavian social democrats \u2013 only this time, it\u2019s not to promise a more expansive welfare state, but rather to save existing social programs by mimicking the hardline immigration policies adopted by Denmark\u2019s Social Democratic-led government. <\/p>\n

Indeed, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen \u2013 whose party lost ground but finished first in Tuesday\u2019s national elections, leaving her poised<\/a> to hold on to her job for a third term \u2013 campaigned on maintaining restrictions on asylum seekers that she has insisted are necessary to preserve the financial viability of the country\u2019s social safety net. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks to members of her Social Democratic Party on Tuesday.Sergei Grits\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a traditional Social Democratic thinker means you cannot allow everyone who wants to join your society to come,\u201d Ms. Frederiksen said<\/a> last year. Otherwise, \u201cit\u2019s impossible to have a sustainable society, especially if you are a welfare society, as we are.\u201d <\/p>\n

The PQ first hailed Denmark\u2019s tough immigration policies, including its \u201canti-ghetto\u201d law that allows for the relocation of non-Western immigrants from neighbourhoods with high unemployment and crime, when it released the party\u2019s immigration platform<\/a> in 2024. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe proper functioning of a social democracy, which aims to be generous in terms of social services, is incompatible with massive immigration,\u201d the PQ insisted in unveiling its plan to slash immigration levels in Quebec, which are already much lower than in the rest of Canada.<\/p>\n

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon returned to the Danish example this month after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down<\/a> a Quebec government regulation that denies access to the province\u2019s subsidized daycare centres to asylum seekers with children. The court ruled 8-1 that the regulation violates equality rights guaranteed under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by placing an undue burden on women.<\/p>\n

Opinion: As an election approaches, the PQ begins to soft pedal its referendum plans<\/a><\/p>\n

The PQ Leader warned that the court ruling would threaten the financial sustainability of the province\u2019s cherished public daycare system under which parents currently pay $9.65 a day for a space in a subsidized child care facility, known as a Centre de la petite enfance (CPE). <\/p>\n

\u201cI advocate for an end to uncontrolled immigration and an open bar of public services for every person who arrives at [Montreal\u2019s] Trudeau Airport claiming a right to asylum BECAUSE I care about services for children and the most disadvantaged,\u201d Mr. St. Pierre Plamondon wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cIt is particularly and precisely in following the example of Denmark \u2026 a country that since 2019 is led by the Social Democratic Party government of Mette Frederiksen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PQ is not alone in Canada in wanting to limit public services provided to asylum seekers and temporary residents. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s United Conservative Party government is planning to put the immigration question to voters in an October referendum. \u201c[T]hrowing the doors wide open to anyone and everyone across the globe has flooded our classrooms, emergency rooms, and social support systems with far too many people, far too quickly,\u201d Ms. Smith charged<\/a> last month as she announced the fall plebiscite. <\/p>\n

Critics rightly accuse Ms. Smith of scapegoating temporary foreign workers and asylum seekers without providing hard data on the cost of providing public services to them and their dependents. The PQ has similarly offered no evidence that obeying the Supreme Court on asylum seekers with children would break the bank. Already long waiting lists for CPE spaces would service to limit the financial impact of the ruling.<\/p>\n

Still, with an October provincial election on the horizon, the PQ\u2019s immigration platform could be a vote-getter among Quebeckers who bemoan the deterioration of health and education services as the province struggles with surging demand and finite budgets. That the PQ can point to social democratic governments in Europe as the inspiration for its proposed immigration crackdown may serve to ease the consciences of voters who do not see themselves as right-wing sympathizers but worry about the future of social programs.<\/p>\n

Promising Denmark on the St. Lawrence River may be a winning strategy for the PQ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says the province must adopt hardline immigration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[2592,2582,2593,2574,2572,2594,227,2571,2587,2588,2584,2573,2570,27,26,1414,440,2072,2586,2580,2605,2575,2576,1585,2583,2501,2578,2595,436,2600,2601,2603,2598,2602,2596,2599,2577,2590,2591,1158,2589,2597,2581,239,1413,2585,2579,1161,2604],"class_list":["post-49894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denmark","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-danmark","tag-denmark","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}