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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed the door on the idea of giving Quebec full powers over immigration, a key request of Premier François Legault.
“No, we are not going to give more power (to Quebec) on immigration,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Montreal following a one-on-one meeting with the Quebec premier.
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“Quebec already has more powers over immigration than any other province because it’s very important to protect French.”
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Answering a question in the National Assembly Thursday from Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Legault indicated that he intended to make the request for full powers during his meeting Friday with Trudeau. The two leaders have not met on their own since Dec. 20, 2022.
Emerging first from the meeting held in a downtown Montreal hotel, Trudeau described their conversation as “very constructive.”
The two discussed immigration, health-care funding and economic issues.
Quebec recently increased its request for compensation for the cost of managing hundreds of asylum seekers entering Quebec to $1 billion. To date, Ottawa has agreed to pay $100 million.
Trudeau, however, steered his comments away from the issue of which government has the power.
“But what interests me is making the system function in a better way,” he said. “It’s not a question of who has control over what. We are here to collaborate together.
“We are here to work in solution mode. It’s not a question of jurisdiction or constitution. It’s a matter of arriving at a solution, and this is what I am concentrating on.”
Legault was to meet the media later Friday morning.
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