A summit meeting will take place between Justin Trudeau and François Legault on March 15, our Parliamentary Office has learned.
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Prime Minister François Legault had indicated, in recent weeks, that he wanted to discuss with his federal counterpart the impact of the approximately 160,000 asylum seekers present on Quebec territory.
Mr. Legault also took up his pen in mid-January to demand concrete actions from Ottawa to limit the influx of migrants seeking refugee status.
Pleading too heavy a burden on the province’s services, Quebec is also calling for a better distribution of these new arrivals across the country.
- Listen to the Lisée – Montpetit meeting with Jean-François Lisée and Marie Montpetit via QUB :
To date, the Legault government estimates that the federal government owes it more than $1 billion in costs related to the care of asylum seekers.
Ottawa’s response so far has been mixed. Last week, the federal government announced the return of visas for about 40% of Mexican visitors, who make up a significant portion of refugee claims.
But yesterday, the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, also announced that Ottawa will stop respecting the thresholds set by Quebec in the family reunification category.
Nearly 20,500 applications are awaiting approval at the federal level, after having been approved by the provincial government, but Quebec refuses to admit more than 10,000 annually.
-With the collaboration of Marc-André Gagnon