A federal plan to build a temporary shelter for 520 people near the U.S. border in Quebec prompted Conservative Michelle Rempel Friday to accuse the Trudeau government of establishing a “refugee camp” in Canada to handle the latest flood of asylum seekers from Nigeria.

A tender notice the government posted Thursday for construction of tent dormitories and fully equipped modules with sinks and showers ignited a swift response from the Conservatives, after the Calgary area MP and Quebec Conservative Pierre Paul-Hus had called a news conference to accuse the government of hiding other details about its refugee treatment plans.

The tender notice posted by the federal procurement department on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency indicates the government is under pressure to act – with a four-week completion deadline for the first phase of the centre and a three-week completion deadline for a second phase. The notice says the shelters would be in operation for a year with possible extensions.

The location is specified as St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, the border municipality that has been flooded recently by the Nigerian asylum seekers.

An Immigration Canada official disclosed to a Commons committee on Thursday that up to 2,500 asylum seekers crossed the U.S. border into Canada in April alone. Reuters news agaency reported this week the government sent two immigration officials to Lagos, Nigeria, to work with immigration officiers in the U.S, embassy to stem the tide. The report appeared in Nigerian news outlets.

Rempel slammed the shelter after criticizing government silence this week over reported talks with the U.S. government on border management of the refugee influx

She accused the Liberals of ignoring Conservative demands for changes to an agreement between Canada and the U.S. that was originally intended to prevent either country from accepting refugee claims from the other country — considered under the agreement to be safe third country

The refugees arriving in Canada duck the terms of the agreement by crossing illegally, at points away from legal border crossing points, and the government is required to review their refugee claims once they enter Canada.

“Rather than saying anything with regard to amending the safe third country agreement or coming up a plan to actually deal with this issue, we are now building a refugee camp at the U.S.-Canada border,” Rempel said.

“I’m not sure that any Canadian would think that this is an acceptable response.”

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale challenged Rempel’s description of the shelters as a refugee camp.

“It is misleading to compare ‎what are temporary accommodations to refugee camps, which are long-term accommodations. Most irregular crossers do not spend long in custody before being released,” Goodale said in a statement to iPolitics later Friday.

The Conservatives want the federal government to declare the entire land border between Canada and the U.S. a seamless legal border entry point – meaning Canada would be unable to accept them as refugees under the agreement with the U.S.

“Conservative suggestions have ranged from violating international law and militarizing the border to commandeering a cattle barn and allowing entry across our entire 9000 km border. None are serious proposals,” said Goodale.

The public safety minister said the new shelters will “help us provide short-term accommodation to the asylum seekers, including families and children, and better manage pressures on provincial resources in Quebec, while ensuring Canada respects its international obligations.”

Rempel pointed to reports Nigerian refugee clailms are entering the U.S. with the sole goal of crossing the Canadian border illegally to claim asylum.

“Just to be clear what’s happening with the Nigerian cohort, people are buying visas (to enter the United States) with the express intent of coming to Canada, so this certainly looks organized,” Rempel said.

“If the safe third country agreement applied to the U.S.-Canada land border, I think a lot less people would go through the expense of buying a U.S. visa and travelling to the United States if that option wasn’t open to them.”