Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague in the sense that we need these people who come here. That is why we implemented the student direct stream for Senegal and Morocco to expedite the processing of applications. The approval rate has improved, but we know that there is still work to be done.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, as I said, international students make an important contribution to Canada. We have heard that loud and clear. That is why we started extending expired and expiring post-graduate work permits. As a result, nearly 100,000 international graduates have been able to continue working across the country.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, we understand that prospective students and the schools that accepted them are disappointed when applications are rejected. I want the House to know that last year I was in Tunisia where, during the Sommet de la Francophonie, I had the chance to meet with several leaders and players in our francophonie to come up with solutions to this problem.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to answer that question. I want to be very clear. We have made significant progress in reducing backlogs and improving services for our clients. Let us look at the numbers. We have reduced the backlog by over half a million. We finalized 5.2 million applications last year, twice as many as in 2021.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, if the Bloc Québécois wants to know how to protect Quebec's demographic weight, I urge its members to read the Canada-Quebec accord, which has been working for three decades. If they want to know what our plan is to reverse the decline of French, I urge them to read the new action plan for official languages.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois must think the government has some kind of crystal ball. Our immigration plans are based on the next three years, not the next 75 years. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has been very clear. His decision is based on what he believes to be the best immigration policy for Canada, based on the needs and capacity of Quebec and Canada.

Orléans  Mr. Speaker, it was a busy weekend. I had the pleasure of attending the Mother's Day high tea event on Saturday, which was organized by my fellow Rotarian members of the Rotary Club of Orléans. The event was significant and symbolic, with the aim of honouring the women who have played important roles in our lives.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the situation in Sudan is highly volatile, and we are deeply concerned for the safety of Sudanese people. That is why we have announced that we are introducing immigration measures to support Sudanese nationals in Canada who are unable to return home. We are also providing facilitative measures and expediting the processing of their applications, free of charge.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my colleague for his question. Let me be very clear: We are doing everything we can to reduce wait times in processing applications. We have tripled the number of work permits for clients. We have returned to our 60-day service standard for new study permits, and in 2022 we welcomed more than 437,000 new permanent residents, a record number since 1913.

Passports  Mr. Speaker, do we know what Conservatives are good at? They are good at pitting Canadians against each other through fear and divisive rhetoric. We are updating the Canadian passport to protect Canadians against fraud, but the Conservatives are good at turning this issue into a cultural war.

Passports  Mr. Speaker, as we are all keenly aware, a Canadian passport is one of the most reliable travel documents around. We can celebrate our history here in the House and across Canada in lots of ways, and we can also ensure that our passports are secure. I think we might be losing sight of the main objective.

Passports  Mr. Speaker, just for everyone to know, every 10 years the government updates its passports to protect Canadians from fraudsters and ensure it is hard to counterfeit the passports. This is not a partisan issue. This is about ensuring Canadians get the most secure and reliable passports that they can use around the world.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, let me be perfectly clear. The Century Initiative is not a government policy. The government does not endorse the findings of this independent group. The government does not have a goal of increasing Canada's population to 100 million people. We have announced our immigration thresholds for the next three years.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, we certainly do hear those concerns all across Canada and Quebec. I just want to remind my colleague that, for the first time in Canadian history, our government has put a housing strategy in place, and that policy includes affordable housing. When it comes to speeding up housing construction, the $4‑billion accelerator fund—

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, on this side of the House, I have many colleagues who represent the interests of Quebec, including the Prime Minister, who is proud to call himself a Quebecker. I know there are many ministers and members of my caucus who have a strong sense of belonging and are proud to be Quebeckers and Canadians.