Lisée wants Ottawa to pay for asylum seekers

Quebec should not be financially responsible for “Justin Trudeau’s guests,” Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée said on Monday, referring to the asylum seekers crossing the U.S. border into Quebec this summer.

During a news conference in St-Augustin, a suburb in Quebec City, Lisée reminded everyone about Trudeau’s “Welcome to Canada” statement in December 2015 as he welcomed Syrian refugees. The influx of migrants, now mostly Haitians, is therefore “the result of Trudeau’s irresponsible declarations,” according to Lisée.

“They need to be well treated, that’s for sure,” he said. “But the question is: how much will this cost and who will pay for this?”

Lisée added that Quebec usually accommodates an average of 3,000 to 4,000 asylum seekers in any given year. However, he said Ottawa should pay for temporary accommodation, social aid and education when the number of migrants exceeds those numbers.

“If I were Quebec’s premier, I would start making my calculations ... The federal government should be paying. I don’t hear Philippe Couillard saying this.”

Premier Couillard, who is in Charlottetown for the annual New England governors and Eastern Canada premiers conference, said Lisée’s use of the phrase “Justin Trudeau’s guests” was “pretty unfortunate,” adding that “everyone works together, with their own responsibilities and tools.”

Quebec will distribute social aid cheques to about 4,000 asylum seekers on Wednesday at the Palais des Congrès. Each will receive a minimum of $600 per month.

The recipients will then be encouraged to leave the Olympic Stadium, where about 3,000 asylum seekers are staying. These cheques will cost Quebec’s Treasury Board $2.5 million, an amount that could repeat each month.

The federal government will treat refugee status claims and could take at least six months before making a decision.