The meeting of the provincial prime ministers on the issue of refugees

Canada‘s provincial premiers are gathering for three days at the Council of the Federation (COF) conference in Halifax starting Monday to discuss key issues including affordability, housing and infrastructure. Further, handling the two issues of refugees and reforms of the rule of equality were placed on their agenda.

Francois Lugo, the Prime Minister of Quebec, decided to raise the issue of refugees. Therefore, from the moment he arrived in Halifax on Sunday, he raised this issue with his counterparts in other provinces and demanded a change in the current state of his province regarding this issue. Noting that about 190,000 refugees enter Quebec every year, Lugo stated that this high number of refugees endangers the future of the French language, especially in Montreal, and must be reduced.

Meanwhile, Quebec reached an agreement with Prime Minister Trudeau last month to receive $750 million in compensation from the federal government for asylum seekers and services provided to them.

The issue of equality will also be discussed today, Wednesday, before the end of the three-day meeting of the Federation Council in Halifax. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Fury has launched a court challenge to change the tie-breaking rule. In his opinion, the rule of equality is not applied equally and does not consider the cost of providing services.

Under the Harper government, this parity rule was changed to require that gross equalization payments grow in line with Canada’s national growth rate. Since the implementation of these measures began right after the financial crisis of 2008, the rule was accompanied by minor changes but no real major reforms.