Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday rejected Quebec's request for additional immigration powers, saying the province already has more control over newcomers than any other Canadian jurisdiction.

In response, Premier François Legault said Quebec "will study all its options" to quickly reduce the number of asylum seekers and temporary foreign workers in the province, which currently exceeds 500,000 people.

Trudeau made the comments to reporters after a meeting with Legault at the Prime Minister’s request in Montreal. The Prime Minister's statement was a rebuke of Legault, who said on Thursday he would use the meeting to ask Trudeau for full control over immigration.

Trudeau told reporters, "No, we will not provide more immigration powers." "Quebec already has more power over immigration than any other province because it is very important to protect French."

Trudeau explained that he is more interested in finding ways to make the system work better rather than discussing jurisdiction.

He said, "It is not a question of who has control over what." "We are here to cooperate, to work together."

Soon after, Legault held a separate press conference where he said it was "too early" to provide details on how the province is thinking of quickly reducing the number of asylum seekers and temporary foreign workers in Quebec.

The Premier said, "People in Quebec have always been welcoming, but we have now exceeded our capacity."

Quebec already controls the number of economic immigrants to the province, but shares responsibility with Ottawa for refugees, newcomers arriving through family reunification, and temporary foreign workers.

However, despite Trudeau’s rejection, Legault said the Prime Minister showed a great deal of "openness" on other immigration matters. The Premier said Trudeau was open to Quebec’s request for approval of temporary foreign workers before they can move to the province, which Legault says amounts to a "veto power" on those applicants and represents significant gains.

The Premier said Trudeau also agreed to consider imposing more travel visas, as Ottawa recently did for Mexican citizens. Likewise, Legault said the Prime Minister was open to speeding up the processing of asylum claims, from 18 months to six months.

Finally, Legault said the two governments will establish a working group to analyze Quebec’s request for one billion dollars in compensation from Ottawa for funds the province says it spent on asylum seeker care in the past three years.

Legault said Quebec has already accepted more than its share of refugee claims, and the province does not have enough teachers, nurses, and housing to welcome more.

Legault insisted, "Asylum seekers and temporary immigrants who do not speak French threaten the dominance of the language in the province, especially in Montreal." "If we want to protect our language, our nation, our identity, our culture, we need to have immigration powers."

However, Trudeau says Ottawa has taken measures to limit asylum claims by closing the Roxham Road crossing, which was used as an informal entry point for asylum seekers coming to the province via the United States, and by re-imposing visas on Mexicans. He said the federal government is reviewing the international student program and wants to discuss limiting temporary workers as needed.

He confirmed that "I hear very clearly from Legault and from those who want to see the number of temporary workers across Quebec reduced, and we are there to work side by side with Quebec in a cooperative way," adding that many industries heavily rely on international workers.