Trudeau offers Quebec immigration help 

Peter Black

peterblack@qctonline.com

The federal government is offering Quebec money and sped-up processing to help the province deal with larger-than-usual numbers of immigrants.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Premier François Legault on June 10 at the Château Frontenac to present a federal package to address issues the premier has been raising for months. The pair last met to discuss immigration in March.

Trudeau promised $750 million over five years “for the provision of services to asylum seekers, including temporary housing.” The premier had requested $1 billion.

Other measures include, according to a statement Trudeau read to reporters: “[E]xpediting the processing of claims by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, working with other provinces to encourage asylum seekers to voluntarily relocate outside of Quebec, improving the integrity of Canada’s visa system, and continuing efforts to increase the removal of foreign nationals who are inadmissible to Quebec.”

Trudeau emphasized that Quebec has control of 50 per cent of temporary workers and that he would like to see the province’s plan for reducing and managing that inflow.

At a separate news conference, Legault said he was “disappointed” the federal government had no specific targets to reduce temporary immigration.

“The problem is urgent, so we cannot say we’ll continue working for months and months about the principles,” the premier said.