QUÉBEC - The Quebec government has lowered its immigration targets for the coming years to 45,000 new permanent residents annually.

The new immigration plan published this morning marks a significant decrease from the 61,000 permanent immigrants who are expected in Quebec this year.

But the government had been considering even deeper cuts — to as low as 25,000 permanent residents per year.

Quebec wants nearly 80 per cent of those immigrants to have intermediate French-language skills by 2029, up from 50 per cent in 2019.

The government also wants to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers and international students by 13 per cent by 2029 compared to 2024, mostly in Montreal and Laval, Que.

Statistics Canada says there are approximately 562,000 temporary immigrants in Quebec.

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