Evidence of meeting #12 for Health in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was immigration.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
Well, again, if I put the chapeau on my head that I had when I was a lawyer, people can appeal, or there could be other considerations.
Again, this is not an IRB...you know.
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you.
I'd like to yield my time to Dan Mazier.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Riding Mountain, MB
Minister Diab, are you confident that our health care system can support your immigration levels?
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
A lot of consultation went into those immigration levels, and—
Conservative
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Riding Mountain, MB
It was a yes-or-no answer, Chair, and it's my time.
Please stop the clock—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Mr. Mazier, do not argue with me, please. I am the chair and I am suggesting that you cannot dictate to a witness how they answer a question. Once you put a question to them, they can answer it in any way and in any language, English or French, that they choose.
Thank you.
Minister, go ahead and answer the question.
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
Health care is certainly taken into consideration quite a bit when we look at the levels planning. A lot of them will be coming through on a temporary basis, as well as coming permanently.
We work with the provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Again, it's a joint provincial responsibility, and a lot of them are using their provincial nominee programs to select health care workers—
November 18th, 2025 / 12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Riding Mountain, MB
Minister, you're way down the rabbit hole. All I'm asking is whether you are confident that our health care system can handle your level of immigration—yes or no? It's a simple yes or no. Are you confident?
Conservative
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
In Canada, one in four health care workers is an immigrant.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
If we could hold the clock, please, for a second, I would like to suggest that witnesses, whether they are ministers or anyone else, come at the request of a committee. A committee should behave with due respect to all of its witnesses. That means allowing a witness to answer and to finish their sentence when a question is asked.
I would like to ask this committee to please behave with respect.
Thank you again.
Liberal
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Riding Mountain, MB
Thank you.
Also, Chair, I would like to move the following motion, given that it's on the matter at hand.
I'm moving the following motion:
That, given that representatives from the University of Toronto's faculty of medicine have refused to appear at the committee's study on the impact of immigration policy on health care, despite at least three separate invitations, the committee summon the associate dean for postgraduate medical education, Dr. Meredith Giuliani, to appear for one hour, in person, within two weeks of the adoption of this motion.
Chair, that's why I was asking the question—I think it was mentioned before by MP Sidhu—about which university was getting the funding. We talked about health care, and this is very relevant to the visa training program. Lots of things are involving the University of Toronto, and I think they need to be here to straighten the record out for the public.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I think it may very well be that because you just placed this motion and it has to do with what we're studying here, there will be debate on the motion.
I will thank the ministers and their officials for coming and spending their time here as witnesses.
Now, Mr. Mazier, you have a motion on the floor.
