Liberals Would Increase Cultural-community Representation: Charest
Danny Chan
Quebec’s cultural communities need greater integration into the province’s economic, political, social and cultural facets, according to Jean Charest. The Quebec Liberal leader said the province needs to do more to absorb immigrant groups into all aspects of Quebec society.
Mr Charest said cultural communities in the province play a vital role in his party’s election platform for the provincial election scheduled for later this year.
Mr Charest, in a speech delivered late last year, said the Quebec Liberals have historically prioritized increased inclusion of cultural minorities into its policies. He noted how the party, which initiated the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, pioneered an equality-access program for the public service in the 1990s and was instrumental in wresting partial jurisdiction over immigration from Ottawa. He added that members of cultural groups currently participate in Liberal party discussions to ensure their voices are heard.
A Liberal government in Quebec City would increase minority representation in the public sector, Mr Charest stated, while striving to create an equitable screening process for public-sector positions. Three-quarters of job applicants from cultural communities failed their admissions exams in 2001, Mr Charest noted, while the provincial pass rate was 50 per cent. He recounted an instance where two men of Cambodian descent were rejected for police-officer openings because of their size. Further investigation disclosed that the admissions test effectively barred any candidate of Asian origin.
Members of cultural communities have not kept pace with the general population in terms of overall employment. Mr Charest said immigrants who have resided in the province for less than 10 years have fared poorly in employment opportunities. Young Haitians in particular have a 30 per cent jobless rate, he added. The statistics are more alarming because immigrants have a higher percentage of university graduates than the population as a whole. The percentage of cultural-community representation in the Quebec public sector fell from 4.1 to 2.2 per cent between 1994 – the year the Parti Quebecois took power – and 2001. Mr Charest added that the figure was higher during the last Liberal government.
With an anticipated retirement rate in the province’s public sector of approximately 40 per cent over the next 10 years, Mr Charest said a Liberal government would endeavor to increase minority representation in public ranks. Entrance examinations would be revised to ensure any cultural biases are excised from the admissions process. Mr Charest further added that the province’s cultural communities would be informed of job openings in the public sector, in part by advertisements published in cultural newspapers.
Government agencies require a multilingual and culturally aware workforce due to the increased effects of globalization, Mr Charest said. Civil servants would consequently need to empathize with the nuances of foreign governments. In particular, public-service employees must also be acutely aware of the language and the subtleties of the communities they serve.
Mr Charest said a Liberal government would collaborate with accreditation agencies in Quebec to recognize diplomas and certifications earned outside Canada as well as encourage firms in the province to foster a more inclusive atmosphere for foreign workers. For instance, a Liberal government would accelerate efforts to recognize physicians in Quebec who received their training abroad.
The Quebec opposition leader added that much of Quebec’s economy is predicated on attracting foreign dollars. Over 40 per cent of the province’s growth depends on exports, making cultural communities a vital nexus between Quebec and the international community. Since 1987, foreign investors have pumped $2.2 billion into the province’s economy, with 40 per cent allocated to the manufacturing industry and 70 per cent to ventures outside the Montreal area. Mr Charest further cited a University of Montreal study that showed immigrants started 45 new businesses in the Eastern Townships in 2001. Mr Charest also recounted the story of Caroline Coulombe, a Quebec entrepreneur of African-American origin, who co-founded the Nacara cosmetics firm that will be traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange in forthcoming months.
Cultural communities are performing admirably in the education sector, Mr Charest further noted. He referred to a report published in November, which revealed in a recent Grade 6 French-language exam that Montreal students of Vietnamese and Russian descent outperformed students whose mother tongue was French. Children from cultural communities are moreover more likely to perform better in the classroom and less inclined to abandon their studies than the average Quebec student.
