The Legault government is demanding a billion dollars from Ottawa to cover expenses caused by the influx of asylum seekers. Refugees need help settling in and, lacking work permits, rely on last resort assistance until they obtain this permit. This situation has several unfortunate consequences. It pushes new arrivals into undeclared work. It puts them in a state of dependence on the State. This is humiliating for many; most people prefer to satisfy their needs on their own. For others, this dependence is likely to last. Entry into the labor market allows refugees accelerated integration into the host society. And then, it’s not as if the refugees were “stealing the jobs “, we are short of workers!
The logical solution would therefore be to grant temporary work permits to asylum seekers as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it is the federal government that grants these permits. We should insist that he speed up the process or entrust this task to the government of Quebec. But as the federal government is jealous of its prerogatives, we should not count too much on that.
So, the message for the federal government should be: grant work permits to asylum seekers, and let it go!
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