Evidence of meeting #26 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was system.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Minister, the benefit of being the one who answers the questions, is, in a way, that you always have the last word. I'm nevertheless going to take the liberty of rectifying matters.
As you very well know, since we have occasion to speak together from time to time, I've never claimed that we should open our borders to all refugee claimants in the world. I was merely emphasizing that, contrary to what you said in all forums this summer, the visa measure does not specifically attack fraudulent or illegitimate claims: it attacks all claims. And it's the same for all visa applications around the world.
I'm going to take the few minutes I have left to ask you a question about immigrant investors. As you know, Quebec is relatively independent with regard to immigrant selection policy. The Quebec government has set itself an objective of doubling the number of immigrant investors in its program in the next two years. However, we are still part of Canada and, after making a decision, after setting an objective, Quebec must turn to the federal government for measures so that it can implement its program.
You will soon be publishing the figures on Canada's objectives. Will the Quebec government have the means to achieve its ambitions? Will it be able to implement the decisions and policies it has established, or will it be held back by the federal government?
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Chairman, the Immigrant Investor Program is very important both federally and for Quebec. We are working with the provinces to do more with it, but there are limits. As I said a few moments ago, even with a very ambitious overall immigration target, Canada is limited with regard to the number of people it can take in. On average, that number is a quarter of a million persons. If we expand the target for a specific program such as the Immigrant Investor Program, we have to reduce immigration targets in another field. That's a problem.
I'm going to hand over to Ms. Deschênes for further comment.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
In operational terms, we try as much as possible to work with the province to ensure its target is reached. In the case of investors, we have to do three times the work because not all of those accepted by Quebec will settle in that province. We work with them, and that's a priority for us; we're going to do whatever we can.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
I understand the operational standpoint, but there is a political issue behind that. The federal government is always very proud to tell Quebeckers that they have control over the selection of their immigrants. That's a much more limited portion than you would have people believe because only economic immigrants are selected. The federal government imposes restrictions even for that segment of immigrants selected by Quebec. Under its own policy, the Quebec government has decided to take in twice as many immigrant investors.
Can the minister give us assurances that the federal government's decisions won't prevent the Quebec government from achieving its own objectives?
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
I can't provide just any guarantee, but I can guarantee that we will be working closely with the Quebec government to achieve our objectives together. The Quebec government understands very well that we are handling its files on a priority basis. That's not very popular among the other provinces, but we're doing it. We're going to continue helping Quebec attract more immigrant investors while staying within our overall limits.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
As Mr. Blackburn said on another subject, you have to be aware that our decision-making power as Quebeckers is limited and that, ultimately, there will always be—
October 6th, 2009 / 10:55 a.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. Chairman, Quebec entered into the Canada-Quebec Accord relating to Immigration with the federal government. It's working very well for Quebec, and we are happy to honour the spirit of that agreement.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Thank you, Minister, and my thanks to your colleagues for coming and spending some time with us today. We appreciate your information.
The meeting is now adjourned.