Ottawa announced that it will grant Quebec $750 million to help cover the costs associated with the increase in the number of temporary migrants to the province, while committing to process asylum applications more quickly and better distribute potential refugees across the country.

Federal officials announced the details yesterday, Monday, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Premier François Legault in Quebec City in response to the Premier's demands that Ottawa reduce the number of temporary migrants in the province and cover the associated costs of housing and their care and children.

Legault had been asking Ottawa for a billion dollars to cover costs incurred from 2021 to 2023. While the Prime Minister received three-quarters of that amount, he has not yet received a specific number from Trudeau regarding how many asylum seekers and other temporary migrants they will be admitted. It is being cut.

Legault said, “The urgent matter is to significantly and quickly reduce the number of temporary migrants in Quebec, and at the very least, the federal government must acknowledge that there is a problem. They also recognize that they need to act quickly and importantly in the short term. But they refuse to give numbers.”

Legault continued that the 560,000 temporary migrants in Quebec – a number that the government says has nearly doubled in two years – are placing unbearable strain on social services and threaten the future of the French language. He wants to halve the number of people applying for asylum in the province.

Speaking to reporters at a separate news conference, Trudeau said he needs a plan from Legault before committing to a specific number.

Trudeau added, “Quebec has direct or indirect control over more than half of the temporary migrants in Quebec, so if we are to have targets for reducing immigration, if that is what Quebec wants, they must provide a plan to reduce or adjust their numbers to meet their needs. That is what I asked Mr. Legault.”

He warned against blaming immigration for the housing shortage and pressure on social services.

Trudeau said, “I think we see across the country that there are many challenges related to social services, housing, and healthcare, which cannot all be blamed on immigrants. Canadians know well that targeting immigrants is not always the best thing, and saying that everything is the immigrants' fault is something that some people use in their arguments, but it is always more complicated than that.”

Federal documents show that in addition to the $750 million amount, Ottawa is committed to processing asylum seekers' applications more quickly and working with other provinces to redistribute potential refugees across the country.

According to Quebec's immigration department, since 2017, the province has welcomed more than 230,000 asylum seekers, accounting for 50.7 percent of all potential refugees who arrived in Canada, while Quebec only represents 22 percent of Canada's population.

According to documents distributed by federal officials, Ottawa's goal is to process at least 20 percent of asylum applications within nine months; the current average processing time for cases is about 18 months.

Ottawa also pledges to “improve the safety” of the country's visa system and ensure that more temporary foreign workers know how to speak French.

The government aims to issue work permits to asylum seekers within 30 days of their arrival by October, whereas it currently takes over 100 days.

Trudeau noted, “We proposed faster processing for asylum applications, moving people to other provinces, improving the visa system, and increasing the speed of deportation for those whose applications have not been successful; these are all elements we are already working on to relieve some of the pressure on Quebec.”