Quebec seeking Ottawa's help in paying for costs of asylum seekers
Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Frechette is keeping up the pressure on Ottawa to help with the costs of asylum seekers in the province.
"That is crucial, really, because we do not have the luxury of saying yes or no," said Frechette.
Quebec asked for $1 billion to meet education, housing and health-care needs, which a working group between the two levels of government will look into, but Frechette is accusing the federal government of passing the buck.
"When I look at the position the federal [government] is taking, it's as if there was a possibility for them to pay or not to pay, depending on their mood - that's not the way it goes," she said. "They do have to assume the consequences of their policies, and their policies generate a lot of expenses for Quebec."
Premier Francois Legault also wants to speed up processing from a year and a half to six months.
"I cannot imagine why it takes 18 months to know if it's a real aslyum seeker or not," he said on Friday.
Immigration is a shared jurisdiction, but there is a lot of tension over how to handle it.
In a letter to Frechette earlier this month, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Ottawa would bypass Quebec's immigration cap to speed up family reunification.
"I've given instructions to process the requests for permanent residency and family reunification, which totals around 20,500 cases," he said.
"Imagine you're married, you have kids, and your spouse is being kept from you, for a number of years for absolutely no reason other than quotas that are imposed by the government in Quebec," said immigration lawyer Patrice Brunet.
Brunet believes these kinds of cases should not be subject to quotas.
Legault said Quebec will now have to look at other options on how to get more powers, and Parti Quebecois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suggested a referendum on immigration.
Legault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are set to meet again by June 30.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Slovakia's populist prime minister shot in assassination attempt, shocking Europe before elections
Slovakia's populist prime minister, Robert Fico, was shot multiple times and gravely wounded Wednesday after a political event in an attempted assassination that shocked the small country and reverberated across Europe.
Transport Canada's UFO 'lead' planned to meet with U.S. intel officials, called info requests a 'wild goose chase'
Canada's transportation department had a UFO 'lead' who tried to 'quell' media interest and planned to meet with U.S. intelligence officials.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver handed a cell phone ticket for using points app in McDonald's drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
'The Fly' has become notorious in France after a brazen escape. What's his criminal history?
A prisoner nicknamed “The Fly” has become notorious in France overnight after a daring and bloody escape from a prison convoy in Normandy that left two guards dead.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed 'crypto king' from Whitby, Ont., has been arrested in Durham Region after allegedly running a Ponzi scheme worth more than $40 million.
Barge hits a bridge in Texas, damaging the structure and causing an oil spill
A barge slammed into a bridge pillar in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a smaller and separate island that is home to a university, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Person responsible for 1996 drugging of 'Titanic' crew likely not a local: Halifax police
Halifax Regional Police believe a non-resident could be responsible for the infamous drugging of numerous crew members of the 'Titanic' movie with a hallucinogenic in 1996.
Latest updates on the biggest wildfires burning in Canada
Thousands of people in Western Canada remain displaced from their homes as wildfires threaten their communities, triggering evacuation orders and alerts.
OPINION If you think you can’t focus for long, you’re right: Sandee LaMotte
Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology -- a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.