International students are the newest target of the Coalition Avenir Québec’s campaign to francize and control Québec’s future—and the potential fallout is hard to ignore. This fall, CAQ minister Jean-Francois Roberge tabled Bill 74 to amend the Québec immigration act. This legislation gives the CAQ government the power to cap the number of international students accepted to private universities based on various criteria, including region, institution, language, and program of study.
To justify these restrictions, the CAQ has cited concerns regarding the strain that non-permanent residents in Québec (who currently number 600,000) put on the housing market. Roberge explains that in tackling this issue, international students must be targeted. From 2014 to 2023, Québec saw a 140 percent increase in this demographic with numbers jumping from 50,000 to 120,000. The CAQ has even gone so far as to accuse certain (unnamed) private institutions of “abusing the system” by charging exorbitant tuition fees and selling a chance at permanent residency in Québec post-graduation. This claim that universities are running some cash-for-citizenship racket is baseless and bypasses the fact that the point of post-grad citizenship programs is to provide avenues for valuable university-educated immigrants to join Québec society. Even if this were a real issue, the CAQ would be best advised to target these specific institutions they claim are problematic, rather than implement the blanket restrictions seen in Bill 74.
The damage that this legislation could cause, if implemented, cannot not be understated. First, these restrictions limit the ability of universities to source high-quality talent internationally. For an institution like McGill, this has the potential to significantly undermine its prestige as a leading center for academics and research—a reputation carefully built through centuries of international contributions. Furthermore, international students bring in an estimated $520 million in revenue for Québec universities. Montréal is currently a thriving university hub, with international students being key drivers of Québec’s knowledge economy and skilled additions to the workforce post-grad. At a time when talent is a global commodity, to deny a city and its institutions this privilege is a shame. Québec cannot afford to treat its students and universities as liabilities instead of assets.
It is clear that Montréal will suffer, but these effects could also extend beyond the island. Indeed, there is cause for concern that Québec at large will be economically jeopardized as a result of Bill 74. In 2019 and 2020, the combined spending of international students in Québec generated 427.4 million in GDP, supported over 4,000 jobs, and resulted in 52.5 million dollars in tax revenue. Strikingly, even the Québec government agrees; the 2023-2027 Plan Stratégique released by the Department of Higher Education stated that attracting international students is “a government priority” in a “global race for talent.”
Then why is the CAQ so forceful in its pushing of Bill 74? While reducing temporary immigrants in Québec may be necessary, there are alternative avenues for addressing this issue that don’t exclusively target international students. Ultimately, like many CAQ projects, Bill 74 can be easily traced back to the debate over language. Jean-Francois Roberge, who is the acting minister of the French language and francization, has stated that Bill 74 is “not about attacking the English-speaking network” and further asserted that specific universities would not be targeted. However, preservation of the French language is set out in the bill as a main criterion for restriction, and Roberge has glorified the amendment as a tool to “allow us to strengthen the quality of the French language.” This will lead to a disproportionate effect on Montréal (where 60% of foreign students in Québec reside) and its Anglophone institutions. Roberge himself has spoken to this effect, conceding that “obviously the numbers will be reduced in the Montréal region, and we know that the major English-speaking institutions are in the Montréal region.”
Recently, Anglophone universities haven’t even been part of the problem. Statistics show that since 2018, the number of foreign students at English schools has stayed static, while francophone universities have seen their numbers increase. Notably, McGill and Concordia have each experienced drops in international student enrollment from 2023 to 2024, with Concordia’s reaching a low of almost 16%. Through Bill 74’s emphasis on francization, these English institutions—which have already been knocked down by Francois Legault’s imposition of tuition hikes in 2023—are being delivered their coup de grace.
Overall, Bill 74 doesn’t just target international students—it targets the very institutions that help keep Québec competitive on a global stage. With this legislation, Jean-Francois Roberge has made one thing clear: his conservation of the French language is not about promotion; it’s about exclusion and control. And unfortunately, Québec’s students, universities, and future will pay the price.
