The federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, believes that the Quebec provincial government does not want to have a serious discussion with the federal government about the costs of the asylum seekers' influx and its social consequences.

"The truth is that I have never received from the Quebec government the impression that they really want to sit down (and talk about the issue)," Miller said today to reporters at the Parliament building in Ottawa as he was heading to a cabinet meeting.

According to Miller, the Quebec government primarily wants to discuss "in the public arena," but "responsible governments do not operate this way," he said.

When asked to comment on Minister Miller's words, Quebec's Minister of Immigration, Francization, and Integration, Christine Fréchette, said that he "completely denies the reality."

Fréchette affirmed that the Quebec government, "for months," has been "intensifying" talks with the federal government on the issue of asylum seekers, "whether in person, by phone, or in writing."

François Legault's government in Quebec announced last week that it is demanding one billion dollars from the federal government as compensation for the cost of receiving asylum seekers since 2021. Thus, the bill has more than doubled compared to what was announced last month.

Today, Miller pointed out, repeating that Quebec "is doing more than its share" in receiving asylum seekers, that officials from the federal government and Quebec government met in recent days to "classify" the requested amounts.

He expressed his regret in the House of Commons that the Quebec government demanded from him "overnight" "another 500 million dollars in a press conference."

It is noted that the head of the Quebec government, François Legault, demanded the federal government in a letter sent on January 17 to its head, Justin Trudeau, 470 million dollars as compensation for what was spent in receiving and caring for asylum seekers in 2021 and 2022, and that the same be done for the following years.

In a press conference held on February 20, the Legault government demanded an additional amount of 576.9 million dollars (a new window) as compensation for similar expenses in 2023.

Miller sparked boos in the House of Commons when he said that the Quebec government doubled the bill "without justifying the requested amounts."

The spokesperson for the Bloc Québécois party on immigration and asylum affairs, MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, strongly protested Minister Miller’s remarks and said that the Quebec province has been demanding from the federal government "since 2021" to pay the costs of receiving asylum seekers and to distribute them across all Canadian provinces.

"(For) three years! (...) Does (Minister Miller) realize that if he had paid his debts since 2021 and negotiated instead of hiding, there wouldn't be problems today?" asked Brunelle-Duceppe.

In addition to the billion dollars it is demanding, the Quebec government insists that the federal government slow the arrival of asylum seekers to the country and better distribute the newcomers among the provinces.

The minister responsible for the French language and Canadian relations in the Quebec government, Jean-François Roberge, went as far last week as to say that Quebec is approaching a "crisis that could become a humanitarian crisis" if it is no longer able to provide services, and saw that the influx of asylum seekers, if it continues at a high pace, could threaten Quebec’s identity.

Quebec, the only Canadian province with a French-speaking majority, says it is currently receiving 55% of asylum seekers arriving in Canada. But the federal government says that a quarter of those who come to Quebec later leave it.