Premier Blaine Higgs on Wednesday claimed the Trudeau Liberals in a conference call told premiers Ottawa would send thousands of asylum seekers to New Brunswick. The Liberals propose to “send 4,600 asylum seekers to New Brunswick without providing any federal financial assistance,” said Higgs at the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce, citing a conference call between federal officials and premiers on Tuesday.“This is an increase of more than 10 times our current level of asylum seekers.”Higgs said the New Brunswick “system is grappling our existing population explosion.” “Do you think Moncton could handle thousands more people without the housing to back that up?” he asked. . “New Brunswick is a welcoming province that embraces immigration. It's been key to our economic success as a province," continued Higgs. "But this would stretch our healthcare and education systems far beyond what they can handle. And we do not have enough housing to make sure both newcomers and people currently living in NB have a roof over their heads.”“We are calling on the Liberal government to drop this plan, and instead, deal with the backlog of asylum claims that their failed policies have created.”"This sudden and unilateral proposal by Ottawa is deeply concerning.”Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller reposted Higgs’ video on Twitter (“X”) and claimed “nobody said” the province would be “forced” to take that specific number of refugees. “This is a highly irresponsible comment by Premier Higgs,” wrote Miller. “While we expect every province to do their fair share in the federation when it comes to asylum seekers, nobody said we’d force New Brunswick to take 4,600 asylum seekers.” .At a national Liberal caucus meeting in Nanaimo, BC, Miller said Higgs' remarks were “largely” made up. "The allegations by Premier Higgs are largely fictitious," he said, adding the 4,600 refugees mentioned by Higgs is an "aspirational" number and the proposed New Brunswick number was "actually less than that.""We at no time have said that we would impose asylum seekers on provinces without financial compensation.""But in no circumstances will we be doing this without compensation or without consent from the provinces.”Miller confirmed other provincial leaders have said they don’t want any more asylum seekers, even if it meant more federal funding.
