Ottawa says Higgs allegation on asylum seekers 'largely fictitious'

The federal immigration minister says Premier Blaine Higgs has made "largely fictitious" claims about Ottawa trying to force New Brunswick to take in thousands of asylum seekers.

Higgs made the allegation in a speech in Moncton on Wednesday, arguing the province would not be able to cope with what he said was a proposal to settle 4,600 people in New Brunswick.

The premier said he recently learned that federal officials were "considering a plan" to send more asylum seekers to the province "without providing any financial assistance or any opportunity for us to have the ability to build the resources and the capability to manage."

The proposed number of 4,600 is more than 10 times the number of asylum claimants the province accepts now, Higgs said. He didn't specify what the proposed timeline would be.

Speaking to reporters at a national Liberal caucus meeting in Nanaimo, B.C., federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Higgs's comments were misleading.

"The allegations by Premier Higgs are largely fictitious," he said. "We at no time have said that we would impose asylum seekers on provinces without financial compensation."

Green Leader David Coon said Higgs was using "Trump-lite tactics … to scare people" ahead of a provincial election.

"His strategy in this election seems to be to further divide New Brunswickers and create bogeymen," Coon said.

"It was a bold-faced lie the way he presented it, clearly, and that's been confirmed by the federal government now."

Miller confirmed that federal officials met with their provincial counterparts about some provinces taking more asylum seekers to ease the pressure on Ontario and Québec, which have accepted more than their per capita share.

"But in no circumstances will we be doing this without compensation or without consent from the provinces," Miller said.

He called the figure of 4,600 "aspirational" and then added the proposed New Brunswick number was "actually less than that."

But Higgs's office released a federal government document that includes a table showing the province's per capita share of existing asylum claims would be 4,952.

Subtracting 384 existing claims in New Brunswick would leave 4,568 additional applicants to bring New Brunswick to its per capita share, the table shows.