Quebec does not have jurisdiction over asylum seekers (DA).
• Read also: Asylum seekers: Quebec evokes a “humanitarian crisis”
But he receives 55.6% of all those who show up in Canada. Much more than its demographic weight, 22%. Ottawa turns a deaf ear. Justin Trudeau makes statements like: “We continue to continue working.”
At the same time, the courts want to force Quebec to guarantee ever more services. The latest one? That the CPEs be accessible to the offspring of the DAs.
Cooking pot
Quebec has all the problems, all the costs, all the obligations. But no skills. No financial compensation either, other than amounts representing a fraction of the billion committed in 3 years.
We understand why the pot ended up boiling in Quebec. And that four ministers united to (once again) demand that Ottawa act.
The file was well fleshed out; illustrated the disconcerting effects of the current migratory wave.
• Creation of 1,237 francization classes; equivalent of 52 primary schools. Obviously, the massive arrival of DA risks further worsening the composition of the class, which is at the heart of the fall negotiations.
• Moreover, asylum seekers now represent “29% of all recipients” of social assistance.
- Listen to the political meeting between Antoine Robitaille and Benoît Dutrizac via QUB :
Incapacity
On Tuesday, the ministers competed in loaded expressions. Bernard Drainville spoke of a “breaking point” almost reached. Jean-François Roberge dared to speak of a “humanitarian crisis”.
Faced with these extremely serious findings, our ministers nevertheless admitted their powerlessness in the face of Ottawa. Without losing great hope… “I have confidence that it will work. We have had examples in the past where we made ourselves heard,” declared Jean-François Roberge in the tone of a pious man who has just said a prayer.
Levers
In a political issue, how far can one party implore another to act, without activating any lever? Quebec could “do more, do better”, right?
In Toronto, the explosion in the number of DAs made Mayor Olivia Chow, a former NDP MP, lose her patience. She outright threatened to add a 6% property tax increase to the planned 9.5% increase, informing Torontonians that the Trudeau government was responsible for this 6%. On February 2, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced aid to Toronto! And Chow gave up on his plan.
Could the Chow method inspire the Legault government? The Quebec budget will be tabled shortly. Could it contain a “Trudeau contribution”, say $100 per Quebecer, to face the exorbitant costs of managing the DA, blaming Justin?
I caricature. But if the situation is as critical as he says, Quebec must find a way to try to get the federal government to move.
Is the legal route possible? Should we reopen the 1991 Quebec-Ottawa agreement, as proposed by Guillaume Cliche-Rivard of QS?
It would certainly be better than incantations or this utopian-angelic solution mentioned by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on Tuesday: “As long as we do not resolve the causes for which people leave their country of origin, we will have to face a challenge where it there are significant population movements.