Four years make a big difference for Donald Trump – and for Fox News

MONTREAL – Quebec Premier François Legault is raising concerns about the prospect of a “massive influx of immigrants” to the province following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, and he says Quebec has already reached capacity.

During a news conference Wednesday in Quebec City, Legault said Canada must “act quickly” to secure its borders against a possible wave of migrants looking to escape Trump’s threat of mass deportations.

“We’ll be calling on the federal government to fulfil its responsibility to protect our borders,” he said. “The problem isn’t immigrants, it’s the number. We already have too many. So we shouldn’t add to the problem.”

Legault said Quebec could help the federal government monitor the border and airports, though he offered few details. He said he wants to “follow up every week” with Ottawa about the number of new arrivals in the province.

Trump has promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants as one of his top priorities, raising the prospect of a repeat of what happened after his 2016 election. His immigration policies during his first mandate helped propel a steady influx of asylum seekers north to Canada, largely through Quebec.

Immigration experts say Quebec and the rest of Canada are likely to see an increase in asylum claims following Trump’s re-election Tuesday, but they say it will probably look quite different this time around. That’s in large part because of changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement, which have made it harder for people in the United States to seek asylum in Canada.

Chantal Ianniciello, vice-president of humanitarian aid for Quebec’s immigration lawyers’ association, said that even before the election, she and her colleagues were hearing from undocumented immigrants south of the border who were worried about a second Trump presidency. “So I think it’s plausible that there will be people who want to leave the United States to migrate north,” she said in an interview.

After Trump’s first election, a wave of asylum seekers began entering Canada illegally, mostly along Roxham Road in rural Quebec. Initially, many of them were Haitian, driven north by the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a protected status that had prevented their deportation following the 2010 Port-au-Prince earthquake.

They came through Roxham Road because of a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires people to claim asylum in whichever country they get to first. Last year, Canada and the U.S. modified the agreement, effectively closing Roxham Road. Up to then, nearly 100,000 people had used it to enter the country.

Now, Ianniciello said, the only way for most people coming from the United States to claim asylum in Canada is to enter the country illegally and remain undetected for more than two weeks, since the revised agreement applies to anyone who makes a claim within 14 days of crossing the border. She said that added challenge means a flood of asylum seekers is unlikely.

“Don’t think that tomorrow hundreds of thousands of people will show up at our doors,” she said. “The situation here won’t be easy for them either.”

She also said it’s less likely now that Quebec would be the primary entry point for asylum seekers, since Roxham Road has been closed. Instead, people may try to enter Canada in various remote locations across the country.

But Ianniciello said people living under the radar in the United States should think carefully about whether they want to take the risk, because if they are turned away from Canada it will alert U.S. authorities to their presence.

Luna Vives, a professor of geography at the Université de Montréal who studies migration, said Trump’s promise to eject millions of undocumented immigrants “may not be feasible” because of how complicated it is to arrange deportations. “But still, it may cause some people who fear that they may be deported to look elsewhere for a place to go,” she said.

She said the closure of Roxham Road means migrants are more likely to hire smugglers to help them cross the border undetected, which could lead to deaths. “Smugglers will rush to fill the gaps,” she said. “There’s a lot of money to be made.”

Legault has long complained that Quebec is hosting more than its fair share of asylum seekers and has too many non-permanent residents, whom he blames for the province’s housing shortage. His government has recently taken steps to limit temporary foreign workers and international students in the province, and has announced a moratorium on two permanent immigration programs.

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who has taken a harder line on immigration than the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, warned earlier in the day that millions of people might consider moving north following Trump’s election.

He told reporters that Canada has “one of the most porous and poorly managed borders in the western world,” and that Legault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are “a disaster in terms of borders and immigration management.”

Abdulla Daoud, executive director of the Refugee Centre, a Montreal non-profit that supports newcomers, said there’s a lot of “fear-mongering” around the prospect of a new wave of migrants. “If we are going to see increased numbers, they’re going to happen gradually,” he said. “It’s going to be over years. It’s not going to be over days.”

He said Canada may be more likely to see an increase in asylum seekers from other countries who are avoiding the United States as opposed to people trying to head north across the border.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

British Columbia Premier David Eby’s new cabinet will be sworn in on Nov. 18, and it will have to feature a significant number of new ministers after last month’s election saw several incumbents defeated while others didn’t run.

Eby will also have to figure out how the cabinet will represent rural regions, given that the party won only five of its 47 seats, pending recounts, outside Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.

Here are some of the potential candidates for a new seat at the cabinet table:

Brittny Anderson, Kootenay Central

Anderson held the position of parliamentary secretary for tourism before the election and is one of only two incumbent members returning from the B.C. Interior. First elected to the legislature in 2020, she previously served as city councillor in Nelson and was board member at the Regional District of Central Kootenay.

Harwinder Sandhu, Vernon-Lumby

The other returning incumbent from the B.C. Interior, Sandhu was parliamentary secretary for seniors’ services and long-term care in the previous government. She was a federal NDP candidate for the region in the 2019 and also ran in the 2017 B.C. elections before breaking through in 2020.

Steve Morissette, Kootenay-Monashee

The mayor of the Village of Fruitvale, B.C., takes over the seat held by veteran New Democrat cabinet minister Katrine Conroy since 2005. The NDP website says Morissette was first elected in Fruitvale a decade ago.

Tamara Davidson, North Coast-Haida Gwaii

Davidson takes over another seat long held by the NDP, this time in a riding won by Jennifer Rice in the last three provincial elections before this year’s vote. Davidson is a member of the Haida Nation and an elected representative to the nation’s council, as well as a public servant for more than 25 years.

Randene Neill, Powell River-Sunshine Coast

Neill, a former Global BC broadcaster who spent almost two decades in journalism, is one of the more recognizable new MLAs coming into legislature. Her seat is also in a longtime NDP riding held by former cabinet member Nicholas Simons since 2005.

Christine Boyle, Vancouver-Little Mountain

There are also a number of high-profile New Democrat members in Metro Vancouver, starting with Boyle, a Vancouver city councillor. She was first elected to city council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. Boyle is married to social activist Seth Klein.

Terry Yung, Vancouver-Yaletown

A veteran Vancouver police officer and longtime board member of immigrant services non-profit SUCCESS, a staple organization in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Yung is also married to Vancouver City Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung.

Jessie Sunner, Surrey-Newton

Another high-profile new member from Metro Vancouver is former Surrey Police Board vice-chair Sunner. Surrey had been the focal point of conflict between the province and municipal officials over the future of policing. Sunner has also served as a human rights lawyer for B.C.’s Hospital Employees’ Union.

Debra Toporowski, Cowichan Valley

Toporowski has been elected twice as a North Cowichan councillor since 2018 and had served as the municipality’s acting mayor in the past. She is also a five-time councillor at the Cowichan Tribes and is the first woman ever elected to hold seats in both councils at the same time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were a lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of a business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

The lack of information shared with Canadians concerned Brett Caraway, a professor of media economics at the University of Toronto.

“The government tells us nothing substantive about their analysis,” he said in an email.

“Although the Investment Canada Act gives the government jurisdiction over social media platforms like TikTok, I think it would be in the public interest for (federal institution) Innovation, Science and Economic Development to be more forthcoming about the nature of their findings.”

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.