(Quebec) Like Liberal Marc Tanguay, Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime believes that Jean Charest is a model to follow when it comes to intergovernmental relations.
Published yesterday at 7:17 p.m.
Caroline Plante The Canadian Press
The Conservative leader detailed his “Duhaime immigration plan” at a news conference Monday, which includes “strong” measures to make Quebec “more autonomous.”
He welcomed the fact that Mr. Charest – this former Liberal prime minister and former candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada – had a keen interest in relations between Quebec and Ottawa.
Mr. Duhaime indicated that he did not see the same level of interest in current Quebec Prime Minister François Legault, whom he said Justin Trudeau's federal government is happy to “put out to pasture.”
“The current government has a record on federal-state relations that is more disappointing than that of its predecessors, including the government of Jean Charest,” he began.
“We have a government that has a lot […] criticized the other parties when they were in power, but today we see that his record is even poorer than the one he denounced.
“Jean Charest had an interest in the rest of Canada and in making connections with people who were a little more decentralized, with conservatives like he already was. […] He was much more interested.
“In fact, he doesn’t seem to care much about François Legault,” analyzed Éric Duhaime, who proposes the creation of a strong “interprovincial alliance” on the immigration issue.
In recent days, interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay said in an interview with La Presse Canadienne that Mr. Legault had every interest in taking “inspiration” from Jean Charest in his dealings with Ottawa.
He praised Mr. Charest's achievements and recalled that it was on his initiative that the Council of the Federation was founded in 2003.
This forum brings together provincial and territorial premiers and allows them to make common demands on the federal government.
While attending the summer session of the Federation Council in 2019, Mr. Legault discussed economic immigration with the other Prime Ministers.
He recently wrote to Mr. Trudeau urging him to stem the flow of asylum seekers; Four ministers also called on Ottawa to ensure that asylum seekers are better distributed across the country.
The CAQ government claims the costs associated with hosting asylum seekers now exceed $1 billion and continues to demand reimbursement from the federal government.
Last Thursday, Federal Minister Pablo Rodriguez did not close the door on negotiations with Quebec, but he criticized the Legault government for a lack of sensitivity on the issue.
Éric Duhaime on Monday lamented the Trudeau government's “indifference” to Quebec's “legitimate” immigration demands. He believes it's time to move to a more muscular approach.
The Conservative leader proposes five measures:
- Consider filing a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the federal government to recover all monies owed and its failure to comply with its border protection obligations.
- As requested by Québec Solidaire, demand the reopening of the 1991 Gagnon-Tremblay-McDougall Agreement to force immediate negotiations with the federal government on the immigration issue;
- Submit an official request to the federal government and the other provinces of Canada regarding the repatriation of all immigration rights.
- Building strong relationships with other provinces on immigration;
- Send a bipartisan delegation to Ottawa to demand full repatriation of powers and total control of our immigration.
“The Legault government alone, which will beg Ottawa, is doomed to fail. […] It doesn't work. We need to create a balance of power,” Mr. Duhaime stressed.