Asylum seekers: Ottawa will pay $750 million to Quebec

Quebec asked for $1 billion. It will ultimately be $750 million that the federal government will pay to compensate for the explosion of asylum seekers on Quebec territory.

François Legault’s government asked Ottawa to reimburse it $1 billion for the costs related to welcoming these migrants seeking refugee status. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, proposes $750 million.

• Listen to Mario Dumont and Alexandre Moranville’s live analysis of the Prime Ministers’ announcements on QUB:

“In recognition of the extraordinary costs incurred by Quebec in recent years to support asylum seekers, including for temporary accommodation, Canada has agreed to a global investment of $750 million for Quebec,” reports the government. Trudeau.

Ottawa also “agreed to implement a 4-pronged approach to reduce the disproportionate number of asylum seekers in Quebec in the short term.”

Quebec has been increasing its demands on immigration since the start of the year. Following his meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, François Legault seemed moderately satisfied.

“We have made some progress, but there is still work to do,” he said.

Regarding the reduction in the number of asylum seekers, Mr. Legault criticizes the absence of concrete data.

“There are no numbers. We don’t know what that means,” he said.

For example, Quebec is asking for a 50% reduction in the number of asylum seekers.

“The government must substantially and quickly reduce the number of temporary immigrants,” said the Premier of Quebec.

According to François Legault, it is “urgent” to reduce the number of immigrants so that Quebecers are cared for and housed. He maintains that 100% of housing problems come from temporary immigrants.

“We are in an emergency situation,” he said. “The federal government needs to understand.”

More details to come…