(Ottawa) The Quebec government does not really want to have a serious discussion with Ottawa on the costs and social consequences caused by the influx of asylum seekers, believes the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller.
“The reality is that I never had the impression from the Quebec government that they really wanted to sit down,” he declared Tuesday during a press scrum upon his arrival at the cabinet meeting.
According to him, François Legault’s government mainly wants to discuss “in the public square” and that “is not the way to do things between responsible governments.”
The government of François Legault announced last week that it is demanding that Ottawa pay it a billion to reimburse what it has cost it to welcome asylum seekers since 2019. The bill has thus more than doubled compared to this which was announced at the start of the year.
On Tuesday, Mr. Miller noted that officials from both levels of government met in recent days to “sort” the amounts requested.
He stopped in his comments as he lamented that “overnight” Quebec “threw” him “another 500 million at a press briefing”.
Such an important request “is not nothing,” he said. According to him, the next step is to decide what is “the responsibility” of each government.
As Justin Trudeau’s lieutenant for Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez, did last week, Minister Miller said he was willing to have such conversations.
However, says Quebec, it is difficult to discuss at a table that does not exist and the federal government is “completely disconnected” from reality in the province.