Ottawa wants to talk about health; Quebec wants to impose the subject of immigration. Gathered in an official meeting for the first time since December 2022, Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and François Legault will speak face to face on Friday. However, no major announcement is expected.
The agenda for the summit meeting, which is expected to last around thirty minutes, will likely be very similar to that followed by the two politicians during their last formal meeting at the Olimpico Café in Montreal. The two prime ministers then discussed “health care funding” and the possibility of “increasing temporary and permanent French-speaking immigration to Quebec,” we can read in a press release from Prime Minister Trudeau’s office dated from December 20, 2022.
This time too, immigration and health will lead the meeting, according to information collected by The duty THURSDAY. Prime Minister Legault also spilled the beans during question period in the National Assembly by announcing that he would ask his counterpart to repatriate all immigration powers.
In recent weeks, the office of the CAQ Prime Minister had expressly asked the federal government that a meeting be organized to address the hot topic of immigration, indicated to Duty a government source in Quebec. In January, Mr. Legault wrote a letter to his counterpart to demand a better distribution of asylum seekers across Canada. “We are very close to the breaking point,” he maintained.
Quebec is also expecting funds of more than 1 billion to compensate for the money spent on welcoming asylum seekers since 2021. In January, the federal government released a pot of 100 million dollars to finance a program aimed at housing people awaiting asylum.
Ottawa considers that it has “already done a lot” and has proposed “many solutions” in immigration matters — notably with the sums offered to Quebec for the accommodation of asylum seekers and the return of visas for Mexican nationals, a federal government source close to the matter told us. Although Prime Minister Trudeau is hopeful of being able to find common ground on certain issues, no major announcements are planned.
“We don’t expect them to necessarily say yes to everything,” added our source in Quebec.
Minister Legault opened his game Thursday, when questioned during question period by the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “Can the Prime Minister confirm to us that he will make the formal request to Justin Trudeau during his meeting tomorrow [vendredi] ? » asked the PQ elected official. “The short answer is yes,” replied Mr. Legault.
“That will be one of my demands, to repatriate all powers over immigration. What I am also going to ask him is that we reduce the number of temporary immigrants and then asylum seekers,” he added.
Health record
In addition to immigration, the two leaders should notably discuss the national drug insurance plan and the federal dental insurance plan — for which Quebec is seeking compensation. The subject of the payment of health transfers of $1 billion per year negotiated last year by the provinces will also be discussed, an amount that Quebec has not yet received.
Several disputes are accumulating between the two levels of government regarding health. Ottawa recently warned Quebec that it intends to withhold its transfers if the Legault government does not sign a bilateral agreement with the federal government by March 31.
Quebec has “an interest in finding common ground” during Friday’s meeting to release the amounts, said our government source in Ottawa. Aside from Quebec, the other provinces that do not have a final agreement with Ottawa have all reached agreements in principle. Approximately 10 billion additional dollars must be paid to Quebec over a period of 10 years under the increase in federal health transfers.
As for the federal drug insurance and dental insurance programs, the Legault government is asking for a right of withdrawal with full compensation.