The Politicization of Immigration and Integration at the Subnational Level: Electoral Campaigns in Ontario and Quebec

Abstract

Open political debate on immigration and integration policies (IIP) among Canadian political parties has been relatively limited. As Canada's immigration and integration systems become more decentralized, what about political debates about IIP in Canadian provinces? This article examines how IIP evolved across time by focusing on political parties’ claims, frames and pledges in party platforms and newspapers, using the cases of Ontario and Quebec. In Ontario, IIP were primarily framed as an economic and social resource. However, following the event of 9/11, new frames began to be introduced, contributing to a heightened salience and polarization. In contrast to Quebec, however, this politicization was not sustained. In Quebec, IIP were only marginally a matter of debate until the mid-2000s. This changed following the Hérouxville event, as these topics became salient, and dominant frames of immigration as economic and social resources were challenged by those of immigration as economic and cultural threats.

Meaning in Life, Future Orientation and Support for Violent Radicalization Among Canadian College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This also confirms prior studies that observed rapid shifts in gender roles in Western societies in recent years and underline the important role of gender in VR studies (76). The significantly higher levels of support for VR among anglophone and second-generation immigrant students in the present study may be due to the younger age of this sample compared to prior studies (11) as well as to the increasing social polarization in Québec related to language and immigration, as demonstrated by the ongoing polarizing debates around these issues in the province (77). Future studies are needed to further explore these associations.…”

Civil society organizations and collective sponsorship of refugees in Quebec

“…As the program has evolved in Quebec and the rest of Canada, there are unique characteristics about the process and management of the sponsorship system in Quebec that differ with the rest of Canada (Garnier and Labman, 2020;Van Haren, 2021). In recent years, migration has become a particularly salient issue in Quebec politics (Gagnon and Larios, 2021;Xhardez and Paquet, 2021) and, as we show in this chapter, refugee sponsorship is no exception. Rather, recent changes have considerably transformed refugee sponsorship in the province and exposed some vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvements to the program.…”

Buying Votes across Borders? A List Experiment on Mexican Immigrants in the United States

“…1The World Bank (2020) defines the stock of international migration as “the number of people born in a country other than that in which they live, including refugees.” External voting is an important issue, particularly in the countries sending migrants. On the other hand, the issue of how to integrate migrants into society is salient in the receiving countries such as Canada (Gagnon and Larios, 2021). …”

“…External voting is an important issue, particularly in the countries sending migrants. On the other hand, the issue of how to integrate migrants into society is salient in the receiving countries such as Canada (Gagnon and Larios, 2021). 2 According to the Current Population Survey conducted by the US Census Bureau, the estimated number of Mexican immigrants in the United States was 12,211,129 in 2015, which corresponds to 97.3 per cent of Mexican citizens living abroad, according to official statistics.…”