Prime Minister François Legault can no longer stand hearing his counterpart in Ottawa, Justin Trudeau, make a “fireworks display of pre-budget announcements” within Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction. He invites the federal government to focus instead on increasing the number of temporary immigrants and revives the idea of a sectoral referendum on immigration.
“Instead of making announcements in Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction, take care of your own responsibilities: in particular immigration,” said the CAQ elected official on Tuesday during a press briefing held a few minutes before question period, at the Parliament Building.
After dismissing it in February, the Prime Minister is reviving the idea of a sectoral referendum on immigration, depending on the “result of discussions” with his counterpart, which will culminate in a summit meeting on the subject by the end of June .
“We’re going to go into detail. Should temporary immigrants be pre-approved by Quebec? If that were the case, that would mean that one, we would control the number and two, we would control the requirements in French,” he said on Tuesday. “Are we possibly holding a referendum on this? Are we having a broader referendum on other subjects? »
In February, however, François Legault ruled out a possible sectoral referendum. “I don’t think we need to hold a referendum to ask Quebecers if they would like to repatriate powers to Quebec,” he said.
In the last days, Justin Trudeau’s government revealed that its April 16 budget would contain billions of dollars in housing and artificial intelligence, in particular. Two weeks ago, the announcement of the creation of a new Canadian Tenants Charter and the equivalent of a uniform lease for all of Canada caused the ministers of the Legault government to fume.
“First, there is no question of accepting that, then, as we have done since I became Prime Minister, we will demand that these sums be paid without conditions,” thundered Mr. Legault , Tuesday, while encouraging Mr. Trudeau to go to the drawing board on the immigration file.
“The federal government has allowed the number of temporary immigrants to explode to 560,000,” he noted.
Further details will follow.