The Hongcouver | Quebec and Ottawa not speaking the same language on Chinese investor immigrants

That was in spite of federal attempts last year to freeze applications to the visa programme, which has been overwhelmed by rich mainland Chinese applying via Hong Kong. But mainland millionaires have found a way around the freeze by turning to Quebec, which continues to run its own procedure for applications and approvals.

After simply funnelling approved applicants into the federal backlog - Canada’s government retains sole authority to issue visas - Quebec receives access to 100 per cent of the interest-free C$800,000 (HK$5.8 million) loan that immigrants must provide. This has been criticised as grossly unfair, since 90 per cent of supposedly Quebec-bound migrants end up living elsewhere in Canada, many in Vancouver.

Viewed separately, the responses emanating from Ottawa and Quebec City (which did not meet the deadline for the original story) are not particularly illuminating. But in contrast, they offer a glimpse into a deep divide on the programme.

Quebec has little incentive to freeze the hugely lucrative scheme, since it receives the full financial benefit and very little of the perceived social burden – such as the stratospheric property price rises that have hit Vancouver suburbs favoured by Chinese who make up the bulk of the investor migrant intake.

In its response to the Post’s story, Citizenship and Immigration Canada stressed the unfairness of this imbalance, although it made no mention of property prices.