Chagnon OK with Quebec immigration, despite deputy-speaker role

Nutik, a Redfern Avenue resident who launched AQ last May and hopes to obtain certification soon from the province's director-general of elections, has been regularly sending out press releases in the meantime, disseminating the party's viewpoints.

In one of the latest, he called Premier Jean Charest a "hypocrite" for accusing Action Démocratique leader Mario Dumont of wanting to isolate Quebec by closing the door to immigration.

"People are still leaving Quebec," said Nutik, who has run unsuccessfully several times for Westmount city council and who has also been an activist for the linguistic rights of the province's anglophones and cultural minorities.

"Six-hundred thousand-plus emigrés and their future progeny were not enough to teach Quebec's leadership anything," he said. "And all too few new immigrants are coming to this province with its official restrictions on language, education and access for immigrants and minorities."

As the head of a government that "oversees restrictions that isolate Quebec, Charest claims he wants an open and booming Quebec. It's a real oxymoron. It's a good time for all leaders to go on record before the upcoming federal and Quebec by-elections in September.

Chagnon, who was appointed deputy-speaker in the National Assembly following the March 26 provincial election, said protocols that are part of the position prevent him from commenting as an MNA. He said he was free to state his personal opinion, however.

"I can tell you what I think, I have no problem with that, but I can't comment on everybody else's comments," said Chagnon. "My own point of view concerning immigration is very clear. Quebec can't avoid immigration. We need immigration.

"We need the quality of immigration and we have the duty of making a proper integration of the immigrants to Quebec or elsewhere. And it's very important not only for our economy, but also for the quality of our life, the style of life we have. It's my feeling that it's very desirable to have quite a few immigrants to Quebec."

Concerning his job as deputy-speaker, Chagnon said he cannot be expected to chair meetings of the National Assembly fairly if he is commenting publicly about other elected members. "Eventually they would just ask me to recuse myself on whatever I said. I need to have a strict neutrality as chair. That's part of the job. I am typically under an obligation not to comment."