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The provinces have asked for much more, with Quebec saying its costs are closer to $146 million, although this includes projected future costs, Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel said earlier this week following meetings in Ottawa.

He responded to the financial announcement Friday on Twitter, saying this marks the first concrete recognition from Ottawa of the considerable impact on Quebec since last year caused by the “massive arrival of irregular asylum seekers.”

Toronto Mayor John Tory said last week his city is also dealing with strains on housing and needs $64 million to recover costs.

Hussen says negotiations on further financial compensation with the three provinces are ongoing.

Talks also continue on a plan to “triage” asylum seekers in an effort to move some migrants out of Montreal and Toronto to areas with more available housing and job opportunities.

Last week, the ad hoc intergovernmental task force on irregular migration met to discuss the progress of this plan, but Transport Minister Marc Garneau said nothing can be finalized until the provincial election in Ontario is over.

Photo by Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press/File

A reception centre is being set up in Cornwall, Ont., as an alternate location where the federal government can deal with refugee claimants. Now, all federal resources and claims processing centres for irregular migrants are centred in Montreal.

Hussen will soon travel to the United States for high-level talks with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to discuss ideas he has to help modernize the safe third country agreement. They include possibly introducing the use of biometrics to allow border officials to better track the movements of individuals to determine if they are eligible to make a refugee claim in Canada.