(Quebec) Judging Donald Trump’s fears “legitimate”, François Legault urges Justin Trudeau to quickly table his plan to “secure the borders” and “reassure” the American president-elect, who is threatening to impose customs tariffs.
Posted at 10:52 a.m.
The Quebec Prime Minister is participating in an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon with his provincial counterparts and the Canadian Prime Minister to discuss Donald Trump’s intention to impose customs tariffs of 25% on all imports from Canada and Mexico.
On Tuesday, François Legault described this threat as a “bomb” for the Quebec economy.
“I have a meeting […] today with Mr. Trudeau. The first thing I’m going to ask is when do we file a plan? We must reassure Mr. Trump, we must do more on the borders. Mr. Trudeau must not try to deny the problem,” Mr. Legault said before the question period.
“Mr. Trump tells us: ‘I’m going to put tariffs of 25% because I’m not satisfied with what Canada is doing at the borders.’ So, we should quickly remove this argument from Mr. Trump [pour qu’il renonce à imposer des tarifs douaniers] », added the Prime Minister.
The day before, Mr. Legault affirmed that the fears expressed by Donald Trump on border control are “legitimate”.
“In recent years, there has been an increase in illegal immigrants crossing the border in the Canada direction. [vers les] United States then there is a problem, among other things, with the circulation of certain drugs,” he mentioned, among several issues on which Ottawa can act.
Quebec also asks Justin Trudeau that Quebec can have its own representative at the negotiating table with the American authorities.
The Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, calls for the responsibility of the federal government to “secure the borders and ensure that there are no regular or irregular crossings, illegal crossings” .
“It’s their responsibility, our border is very big. They must add all the necessary staff. It is an obligation to achieve results,” argued Mr. Roberge.
Quebec Constitution
Furthermore, François Legault affirmed on Wednesday that he is “open” to presenting a draft Quebec constitution by the end of his mandate, in 2026.
On Tuesday, the Proulx-Rousseau committee, responsible for identifying solutions to increase Quebec’s autonomy, recommended in particular that the government adopt a Quebec constitution.
“The Prime Minister said that he was open so we will study the report, it is a very detailed report of 42 recommendations which was given to us […]it’s very interesting and it demonstrates very well that there is a third way. It is a step forward for the third way, between the status quo of the Liberal Party and the expectation of the sovereignty of a Parti Québécois,” indicated Simon Jolin-Barrette.
However, the project of a Quebec constitution has been in Minister Jolin-Barrette’s plans for several years already. The latter plans to table a complete response to the Proulx-Rousseau report when parliamentary work resumes after the holiday break in January.
