Roxham Road is a symbol of the failure of federalism and the caquisme, proclaims PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on the eve of a summit between Prime Ministers François Legault and Justin Trudeau.
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For the leader of the Parti Québécois, it is a lack of political will that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are slow to suspend the Safe Third Countries Agreement at the heart of the ongoing situation at Roxham Road.
Since 2016, almost all irregular border crossings between Canada and the United States have been observed at this location, very close to Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle.
Prime Minister François Legault told the parliamentary press on Wednesday that more than 36,000 people have already taken it since the beginning of the year. That number could rise to 50,000 by the end of the year.
Mr Legault believed this was a “really urgent” issue and assured the issue would be on the agenda of his meeting with his federal colleague in Montreal on Friday.
This will be their first official meeting since the October 3 election. The two prime ministers exchanged views briefly on the sidelines of the Francophonie summit in Tunisia and promised to postpone the game until mid-December.
result requirement
Returning to power for a second term, “François Legault has a commitment to results,” says PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who is calling for a concrete plan to close Roxham Road with a timeline.
“It is François Legault who has just told us that a strong mandate would allow him to bend Justin Trudeau. […] François Legault bears this burden. If he tells us that federalism works and we can make a profit in Canada, at some point he has a duty to deliver,” the PQ leader argued on QUB radio.
skepticism
However, the Camille-Laurin member remains very skeptical about the gains that Mr Legault could make on this file, as on several others.
“If he doesn’t get an endorsement from federal agencies, which between you and me is the most likely scenario, then he’ll have to figure out his game plan. That is, how he will use the powers at his disposal to put an end to this situation. »
As long as it remains open, according to the leader of the Parti Québécois, Roxham Road exemplifies the failure of federalism, even “a symbol of the failure of the Caquisme, which claimed a kind of autonomy that would allow us to solve the problems inside Canada” , declared the MNA for Camille-Laurin, targeting the Coalition avenir Québec.
“We are still looking for the significant gains promised by François Legault’s federalism. Of course, the Parti Québécois wants to rush him about it,” warned Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who was on the show Là-haut sur la colline.
“Liberal Scandal”
The PQ leader also describes as a “liberal scandal” the fact that a donor from the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC) signed agreements with Ottawa for more than $28 million by mutual agreement for the development and lease of premises near the Roxham Road received .
In an interview, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon made a connection between this case and the sponsorship scandal. “It has all the hallmarks of the federal liberal modus operandi: that is, rewarding donors and partisans with very lucrative operations ultimately aimed at weakening Quebec. That was the case with sponsorships, it looks strange,” said Camille-Laurin’s deputy.
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