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Quebec Premier François Legault will meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Quebec City on Monday to discuss how Ottawa can “rapidly and in a significant manner” reduce the number of temporary immigrants to the province and better distribute asylum seekers throughout the rest of the country.
Quebec is seeking a say in the selection of temporary foreign workers and wants knowledge of French to count in the process.
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Additionally, the Legault government wants $1 billion in compensation to cover the costs of accommodating asylum seekers.
When the two politicians met last March 15, Trudeau flatly refused Legault’s demand that Quebec be given full jurisdiction over immigration. Since that refusal, the issue of jurisdiction appears to have become less of an issue for Quebec.
However, Legault has repeatedly stated that the presence of 560,000 temporary workers in Quebec is placing stress on public services. The premier argues Quebec no longer has the capacity to handle so many new arrivals and wants Ottawa to better manage their number.
While Legault has stopped threatening to hold a provincial referendum on the issue of more powers in immigration, he continues to cite poll results suggesting the idea more power in immigration is supported by 65 per cent of Quebecers.
“The problem isn’t the support of Quebecers, it is to create an emergency and convince the federal (government) to act now,” he told a radio interviewer last week.
Monday’s meeting is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., after which Legault is expected to meet with reporters at about 4 p.m.
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