Quebec Premier to meet with PM Trudeau about asylum seekers

Premier François Legault will be meeting with Prime Minster Justin Trudeau in the coming weeks on asylum seekers and the mounting pressure on the province’s public services.

At a press conference on Thursday, Legault called on Ottawa to reinstate visas for Mexican travellers as quickly as possible, since many asylum seekers come from Mexico he said.

This comes as earlier this week, four Quebec ministers came together to call on the federal government to slow the arrival of asylum seekers and to distribute them more evenly across the country – as well as reimburse Quebec $1 billion for costs incurred for welcoming them.

“We don’t have the means,” explained Legault. “We don’t have enough places and we don’t have enough staff to offer these services.”

“It’s a question about being able or not to offer services to the population,” said the Premier. “There’s no magic way to offer that. I cannot offer what I cannot bring to the table.”

Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez responded Thursday to the Legault government’s $1 billion demand, arguing that this is the price that has been costing the government to receive asylum seekers since 2021.

Rodriguez claims that “Quebec has been extremely generous and has done more than its share in welcoming asylum seekers,” but that “certain facts need to be re-established.”

Additionally, Rodriguez previously said that this type of demand “is negotiated and discussed around the table, not through media appearances.”

But Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette, replied to his comments stating that if the federal government wants to speak at the negotiating table, they should do so.

“We are more than available,” Fréchette responded. “We’ve had several meetings with two departments, four departments, whatever the number, the result is the same.”

According to Quebec, the province receives 55 per cent of asylum seekers arriving in Canada. This represents 160,651 refugees in 2023, according to government data.

“I asked Trudeau to do what he did with the Roxham problem, which is to send more of them to other provinces. I think he will take action to put the visas to see how we can bring some of the asylum seekers in other provinces,” concluded Legault.