(Quebec) François Legault says he did not take sides with Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party last week when he asked the Bloc Québécois to support a motion to bring down the Trudeau government.
“I never said that I supported one party over the other. I said that we should not support Mr. Trudeau’s government until he tells us, until he makes a clear commitment to reduce the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec,” said the Premier of Quebec on Wednesday during question period.
“That’s what I said. Québec solidaire is trying to claim other things, but that’s all I said,” he added.
Mr. Legault has been the target of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Québec solidaire since his statement last week.
QS accuses him of supporting the Conservative Party of Canada:
- Who opposes the Quebec tramway?
- A third of whose MPs campaign against abortion
- Who wants to build pipelines?
Last week, Mr. Legault indicated that he no longer had confidence in Justin Trudeau to resolve immigration problems and was putting pressure on the Parti Québécois to urge the Bloc Québécois to help bring down the government.
In the House, Mr. Legault went even further on his preferences by stating: “What we need in Ottawa is an economic government,” he said. On September 21, he republished a publication on the X platform by an advisor to Pierre Poilievre who attacked the Bloc Québécois.
Super volunteer
On Tuesday, Mr. Legault did not seem to want to back down. While he was called a “super volunteer” by Pierre Poilievre by the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire, the premier replied that “it is more important for [le Parti québécois et Québec solidaire] of being more to the left than defending the autonomy and then the interests of Quebec.”
PHOTO BLAIR GABLE, REUTERS
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre
On Wednesday, he now appears to be watering down his position. “All I said last week was that before supporting Mr. Trudeau’s government, the Bloc Québécois should demand that the number of temporary immigrants be reduced by half. That’s all I said,” he repeated.
The election campaign will then be an opportunity for “each party” to “make commitments to reduce the number of temporary immigrants by half.”
Federal ministers respond
Mr. Legault’s statement caused a stir. On Tuesday, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller and his colleague at Public Security, Dominic LeBlanc, sent a letter to Quebec’s new Immigration Minister, Jean-François Roberge.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller
The Canadian Press reports that in this letter, the two federal ministers wrote that they were “surprised to learn of the comments made last week by the Premier of Quebec to the effect that the actions taken by the Government of Canada over the past six months were insufficient.”
They also requested various actions from Quebec, including that it share with Ottawa the data necessary to identify asylum seekers who are ready to settle outside Quebec.
“We believe that this initiative would have a better chance of success if Quebec joined forces with us to encourage conservative provincial governments to participate, rather than encouraging a motion of censure by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives,” the letter reads.
Ministers Miller and LeBlanc also note that Ottawa, in February 2024, “introduced a partial visa requirement for Mexican citizens, who represented approximately 17 per cent of all asylum claims in 2023.” As a result of these changes, the number of overall claims filed by Mexican citizens has decreased by more than 75 per cent, the federal ministers wrote.
Quebec’s Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, also met with the ministers. He says he “felt” that they wanted to “move” regarding the international mobility program for temporary foreign workers. “It’s probably because of the pressure we put on,” he said happily.
He believes that it is up to Ottawa to find ways to convince the premiers of other provinces to welcome a greater share of asylum seekers, and says that the current situation, where Quebec is hosting nearly 600,000 temporary immigrants, is “unbearable.”
With the collaboration of Fanny Lévesque and the Canadian Press