At the Council of Federation, several premiers made an urgent call for the Trudeau Liberals to alleviate Canada’s migrant crisis.

According to the premiers of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and New Brunswick, asylum seekers and immigrants are straining their housing supply, and lengthening queues for social services.

“When it comes to asylum seekers, both Quebec and Ontario bear the brunt of it. We’re just asking the federal government to give our fair share,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters Wednesday. His government has spent more than $1 billion housing newcomers and providing them access to health care and other services.

The city of Toronto received $162 million from Parliament in February to support asylum seekers. Ottawa asked for $32 million to accommodate newcomers two months later.

The Trudeau government recently considered purchasing hotels to house migrants to reduce accommodation costs. They leased some 4,000 hotel rooms for 7,300 asylum seekers this year.

Premier Ford said “sticking them in a hotel” represents a temporary solution amid the ongoing backlog of working visas. “They’re really good folks,” he claimed, “but we have to make sure we have shelter … so we really need the support from the federal government.”

Mass immigration & radical multiculturalism "has failed" Canada, @MaximeBernier tells @EzraLevant.

Bernier criticized Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for failing to address these issues.

Watch the full interview on RebelNews+: https://t.co/FI45bV5RuE pic.twitter.com/GHXKFcOaC6

— Rebel News Québec (@RebelNews_QC) January 4, 2024

Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledged that was not sustainable long-term in an interview with The Globe and Mail. The number of asylum claimants “aren't going down drastically anytime soon,” he said.

The Trudeau government spent over $93 million booking hotels to accommodate asylum seekers between September 2021 and January 2023, according to government data. These include 10 hotels in Montreal, including a 112-room hotel near Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport.

More than $100 million has been spent housing asylum seekers in Niagara Falls hotels between February 2023 and February 2024, according to figures obtained by Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli.

The Liberals earlier pledged $750 million to Quebec after heralding complaints from Premier François Legault. “There’s a risk of reaction or overreaction in the face of impacts on services, on the French language, on housing,” he said last month.

Data shows the province has accepted 300,000 more migrants, not including permanent residents, over the past two years. As of January 1, 2024, Quebec housed 54% of all asylum seekers in Canada. Legault says that is more than the province can reasonably handle.

The Department of Immigration clarified it is the responsibility of provinces to accommodate and provide access to social services while they process asylum applications and work visas.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says that Quebec cannot handle an influx of 190,000 asylum seekers and is seeking to redistribute them to other provinces. He says some premiers are open to the move. pic.twitter.com/RqkHGqUPeO

— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) July 16, 2024

On Wednesday, Premier Legault reiterated those concerns, saying it was “not fair” that Quebec received federal assistance while other provinces did not. “I would prefer to receive less [money] in the future and have less asylum seekers,” he said.

Quebec pleaded with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to grant the provinces full say on immigration, an ask he did fulfill. He said the provinces needed to solve immigration challenges together.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province is in a “very similar position” to Quebec. She told reporters that Alberta takes in 22% of newcomers despite having 12% of Canada’s population.

The province is “shouldering a larger burden” with its existing infrastructure, Smith claimed. “It puts a lot of pressure on jurisdictions who are receiving more [newcomers] than their current level of social programs and infrastructure can support,” she said.

Premier Danielle Smith is asked if Alberta would be willing to accept asylum seekers from Quebec that the Legault government is trying to transfer to other provinces. pic.twitter.com/igx3npF3N1

— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) July 16, 2024

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs urged for a greater balance on immigration.

“I think we’re all kind of bursting at the seams in relation to keeping up with housing,” he said. “We’re getting pushback from many citizens about the cost, the affordability, and the availability.” 

A federal report last month found that support for current immigration quotas is falling sharply.

"Canadians’ support for immigration levels decreased substantially during 2023,” said a Department of Immigration memo. “The proportion of Canadians who say the number of immigrants coming to Canada is ‘too many’ rose by 13 percentage points between March and November.”

The memo states that one-third of Canadians, and a majority of Ontarians, say there are too many immigrants.