Blaming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for creating “a mess,” Premier Doug Ford’s new Progressive Conservative government has withdrawn Ontario’s co-operation with Ottawa over asylum-seekers.But Trudeau emerged from a 40-minute meeting with Ford at Queen’s Park suggesting the rookie premier does not understand the complexities behind the migrant crisis currently straining Toronto shelter resources.“It didn’t seem to me that the premier was quite as aware of our international obligations to the UN Convention on Refugees as he might have been,” the prime minister told reporters Thursday, after the leaders’ first official meeting.“So I spent a little time explaining how the asylum-seeking system works and how our system is supposed to operate,” said Trudeau.“I reassured the premier — or I attempted to reassure the premier — that the asylum-seeker stream is separate from the immigration stream,” he said.“Canada has always had a separate procedure to assess refugees and to determine whether they are, indeed, fleeing violence, persecution and terror, or else they are simply economic migrants, at which point they would get sent home.”Read more: Ottawa pledges $50M to help provinces cope with asylum-seekersForeign caregivers face new hurdles to stay in CanadaOpinion | Pharmacare the first casualty of Doug Ford’s hasty hidden agendaAs first disclosed by the Star, Ontario Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod advised federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen on Wednesday that the province was stepping back from its involvement in alleviating a crisis sparked by President Donald Trump’s policies on migrants.Over the past year, thousands of asylum seekers have entered Canada from the United States. The influx has strained the federal, provincial and municipal facilities earmarked to help such unexpected new arrivals.MacLeod said Thursday t ...
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