Le Parti Québécois Wins Quebec Election: What It Means for Immigration and the PEQ

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is set to become Quebec’s next premier. However, without a majority of seats in the National Assembly, the PQ will need support from other parties to pass legislation and move forward with some parts of its agenda. 

Immigration was one of the major issues of the election campaign. The PQ has promised to cut temporary immigration in half, reduce permanent immigration to 35,000 permanent resident admissions per year (down from 45,000), and temporarily stop selecting new economic immigrants directly from outside Quebec (meaning all new PRs will be selected from TRs already in the province). 

There is also a more immediate question for some temporary residents already living in Quebec: what happens to the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ)? 

With a minority government, no matter what the PQ wants to accomplish, they’ll be forced to work with other parties in order to pass legislation. 

Here’s what the PQ has promised on immigration and what its victory could mean for people hoping to become permanent residents in Quebec. 

Key Takeaways

• The Parti Québécois has promised to reduce temporary immigration to Quebec by roughly half and lower permanent immigration to 35,000 people per year.
• The PQ also wants to temporarily stop selecting economic immigrants directly from outside Quebec, instead selecting new permanent residents from the pool of temporary residents already living in the province.
• The current Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) intake remains open until October 31, 2026, and eligible applicants should apply before the deadline.
• The future of PEQ after October 31 is uncertain, with the PQ previously signalling stronger support for grandfathering TFWs in certain industries.

The PQ Plans to Significantly Reduce Immigration to Quebec

The Parti Québécois campaigned on significantly cutting immigration levels in Quebec, with the biggest proposed changes targeting temporary residents.

The PQ says it wants to reduce temporary immigration by approximately half, representing a reduction of between 200,000 and 250,000 temporary residents. This includes temporary workers, international students, and other temporary residents. Notably, the PQ has indicated it would protect access to temporary workers in certain areas, including in key sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, some regional industries, and public-facing services like health care.

The PQ may run into issues with the federal government as Quebec doesn’t have full control over temporary immigration. Some temporary residents are admitted through programs administered primarily by the federal government, which has been an ongoing point of disagreement between Quebec City and Ottawa.

For permanent immigration, the PQ has committed to setting Quebec’s annual immigration level at 35,000 new permanent residents. This is a reduction of 10,000 (or 22 percent) from the target of 45,000 laid out in the previous government’s plan.

The PQ has also promised a temporary pause on selecting economic immigrants directly from outside Quebec. Under the PQ’s plan, while this pause is in place, all economic immigrants selected for permanent residence in Quebec will be selected from among temporary residents already living in the province. The party says this pause will remain in place until it achieves its target of cutting temporary immigration in half.

This means the PQ is proposing two changes at the same time. It wants to substantially reduce the overall number of temporary residents in Quebec, while using the remaining temporary resident population as the primary source of new economic permanent residents.

For people already living and working in Quebec, that raises an obvious question about which temporary residents would actually be given an opportunity to transition to permanent residence.

And – one of these biggest unanswered questions involves the Quebec Experience Program.

What Does a PQ Win Mean for the PEQ?

The Quebec Experience Program, or PEQ, is currently accepting applications as part of a temporary reopening announced by the outgoing CAQ government earlier this year.

The program was originally closed in November 2025, prompting significant criticism from international graduates, temporary foreign workers, employers, and other groups. In 2026, the CAQ reversed course and announced that PEQ would temporarily reopen for two years before closing permanently in July 2028.

However, PEQ is not continuously open throughout those two years.

The first intake opened on July 2 and is scheduled to close on October 31, 2026. During this intake, only applicants who had already met the necessary work or education requirements when PEQ originally closed on November 19, 2025, are eligible to apply.

Quebec has said there is no application cap during this first intake and that all eligible applications received before the deadline will be processed.

After October 31, however, the future of the PEQ remains uncertain, especially with the election of a new government with tighter immigration policies.

The outgoing CAQ government planned to review the number of applications submitted during the first intake before deciding when another intake would take place and who would qualify. With the PQ now forming government, those decisions will instead fall to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and his party.

The PQ has previously stated that they support some form of “grandfathering” for people affected by the abrupt closure of PEQ in 2025. But – the PQ position focused heavily on a specific group of temporary workers.

Earlier this year, PSPP said the PQ was open to grandfathering approximately 40,000 temporary foreign workers who had been directly selected by Quebec. In the PQ’s view, these temporary workers had been given a legitimate expectation that they would eventually be able to apply for permanent residence.

This group is mostly workers who came to Quebec through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Workers using the TFWP in Quebec usually first apply to the province before applying federally, meaning that Quebec approves all TFWs.

St-Pierre Plamondon has been less supportive of extending the same commitment to the much larger number of temporary residents who came to Quebec through programs administered exclusively by the federal government, such as the International Mobility Program.

He has previously argued that offering a permanent residence pathway to all French-speaking temporary residents in Quebec could potentially involve between 150,000 and 200,000 people.

The PQ has not published detailed rules explaining exactly how it will handle future PEQ intakes, so we don’t yet know whether another PEQ intake will take place, when it could open, or which temporary residents would be eligible.

Based on the party’s previous statements, temporary foreign workers who were specifically selected through Quebec’s immigration system may have a stronger case for some form of grandfathering. But only time will tell what the PQ government will do for international graduates and workers who came to Quebec through federal work permit programs.

What Should Current PEQ Applicants Do?

If you are eligible for the PEQ intake that is currently open, the election result does not change the existing October 31 deadline.

Quebec has already said that there is no application cap for the current intake and that eligible applications submitted during this period will be processed. The bigger uncertainty surrounds what happens after this intake closes.

If you qualify for PEQ right now, our advice remains the same: apply before the current intake closes. With a new government in power, this is more important now than before.

There is no guarantee that a second intake will have the same eligibility requirements. A PQ government could limit access to a smaller group of temporary residents, change the conditions for future applications, or potentially decide not to do another intake at all.

If you’re planning to apply, make sure your application is complete and that you meet all PEQ requirements before submitting. You can review our complete guide to the Quebec Experience Program for details on current eligibility requirements and application procedures. This is also a good time to have an immigration lawyer or consultant review your application before submitting, as the future of the program is uncertain and resubmitting later might not be an option.

For applicants who are not eligible under the current intake, we’re watching closely for any announcements from the new PQ government about the future of PEQ and Quebec’s broader immigration programs. Once we have more information, we’ll publish it here.