The Legault government so rarely succeeded in obtaining anything from Ottawa that almost a year after the closure of Roxham Road, the Prime Minister never stopped congratulating himself about it and castigating those who doubted that it manages to convince Justin Trudeau.
It is true that there were many skeptics, but there were just as many who thought that this would not prevent migrants from continuing to flock to Quebec, starting with his own Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette.
“Roxham Road, if it is closed, it will simply recreate another one a few kilometers further. It solves absolutely nothing, closing it,” she said, before making a 180-degree turn after realizing that she was contradicting her boss.
Mr. Legault can always continue to boast, but the problem remains. Asylum seekers have discovered that it is even easier to fly. “Ultimately, the closure of Roxham Road did not achieve much,” noted last fall the Minister responsible for Canadian Relations, Jean-François Roberge.
This has produced so few results that Mr. Roberge has come to say not only that public services are saturated, to the point that a “humanitarian crisis” is imminent, but also that Quebec identity itself is threatened. Of course, the main culprit remains the federal government, which has made Canadian airports, especially that of Montreal-Trudeau, into real sieves.
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We can debate the exact proportion of asylum seekers who end up in Quebec and the compensation that Ottawa should pay to the provincial government, but the burden it must bear is undeniably excessive and inequitable.
The least we can say is that this new cry of distress did not seem to inspire Justin Trudeau with a greater sense of urgency than Mr. Legault’s previous letter, dated mid-January, in which he mentioned a situation that has become “unbearable” and a “breaking point”.
The answer is that Quebec was entitled to 100 million out of the 362 million that Ottawa granted to all the provinces to house asylum seekers, while the Legault government is now presenting a bill for one billion.
He may be right to be alarmed, but this is not the first time he has cried wolf without taking the necessary measures if the danger is so great. Faced with such an emergency, Ottawa’s repeated denials should have convinced him that his claims are wasted effort. Otherwise, it’s just empty words and Ottawa is right to send it to waste.
In the spring of 2022, the Prime Minister argued that welcoming more than 50,000 immigrants would lead to the “Louisianization” of Quebec. Last fall, his government planned to admit around 65,000 immigrants to Quebec in 2024. When the Parti Québécois proposed 35,000, of whom it would require sufficient knowledge of French upon arrival, Mr. Legault said the thing was impossible, but this is apparently possible if there are 65,000. There is reason to be perplexed.
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Looking for a scapegoat on whom to blame one’s failures is a natural reflex in politics. A government which holds 89 seats out of 125 can hardly blame the opposition. Of course, there are the unions, the media, Trump… but that also has its limits.
On Tuesday, Mr. Legault found another culprit. “What is the Bloc Québécois for? » he asked. What exactly should we blame him for? Quebec’s demands in matters of immigration seem rather well defended by it in the House of Commons.
Just last week, he passed a motion calling for a meeting of provincial premiers and immigration ministers to set thresholds taking into account the ability to pay and welcome from Quebec and other provinces.
Mr. Legault has not yet joined his voice to that of Pierre Poilievre, who regularly accuses the Bloc of being Justin Trudeau’s accomplice, but should we understand that he believes the Conservative Party is more capable of representing the interests of Quebec in Ottawa?
Mr. Poilievre declared Wednesday that “Quebec is at breaking point because of Trudeau’s decision to remove the Mexican visa that the Conservatives had in place.” What a coincidence, right?
It is true that with the rise of the Parti Québécois, which can count on the support of the Bloc, and vice versa, the Coalition Avenir Québec and the Conservative Party have common enemies as threatening for one as for the other. In the eyes of many Quebecers, however, Pierre Poilievre is a wolf at least as dangerous as Justin Trudeau.