Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge claims that his government’s strategy of urging the Bloc Québécois to withdraw its confidence in Justin Trudeau has worked to put pressure on the federal government on immigration. In the same breath, he admits that he came away empty-handed from his meeting Tuesday night with his counterpart Marc Miller and federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
“There is no progress on asylum seekers. Mr. Miller tells us that he will hold bilateral meetings with the other provinces, but what will come of that? He refuses to commit to a fair distribution of asylum seekers,” said Minister Roberge at a press briefing at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Quebec insists that it has done more than its share in welcoming asylum seekers and demands that they be better distributed across Canada. However, several provinces refuse to accept more.
Minister Roberge assures that his government’s sensational statement last week did not harm his relationship with Ottawa. “What I felt was that the pressure mounted on the federal Liberal government,” he assured.
“There are discussions about the international mobility program. I feel that they want to move. […] “It’s probably because of the pressure we put on,” the minister added.
Quebec is also urging Ottawa to reduce the number of temporary immigrants by 50%. Although the federal government has still not proposed a plan to Quebec, the minister assures that “the pressure is still there.”
“All people who are involved in politics in Ottawa have a duty to carry the voice of Quebec and to make all those who want to form the next government listen to reason, whether they are the Liberals, the Conservatives or the NDP,” he said.
Strained relations
Relations are tense between Justin Trudeau’s government and Quebec.
In a letter dated Tuesday and addressed to Mr. Roberge, Marc Miller and Dominic LeBlanc said they were “surprised” by comments from Premier François Legault “to the effect that the actions taken by the Government of Canada over the past six months were insufficient.”
In the letter, the two federal ministers list the measures taken by Ottawa to manage the immigration file.
They are also asking that Quebec share with Ottawa the data needed to identify asylum seekers who are ready to settle outside the province.
“We believe that this initiative would have a better chance of success if Quebec joined forces with us to encourage conservative provincial governments to participate, rather than encouraging a motion of censure by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives,” the letter says.