Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 31st, 2018

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you very much.

This is something we have been reiterating time and time again to the opposition, that asylum seekers are processed in a completely separate stream by the Immigration and Refugee Board, which is arm's length and judicial. The rest of the immigration system, whether it is overseas refugees we are bringing to Canada, spouses, family reunification, parents and grandparents, economic immigrants, express entry, provincial nominee program, or the start-up visa, everything else is processed by IRCC.

In those categories, we have an amazing track record. We have eliminated or dramatically reduced a lot of the backlogs that we inherited. We have dramatically decreased the processing time for a lot of those immigration streams, and we're proud of that record. To confuse the two and to make allegations of queue jumping or “this affecting that” is simply not the case. I'm happy you gave me this opportunity to clarify that once again.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

In terms of growing Canada's future economy, I want to talk a little bit about the immigration levels plan.

In 1971 there was a ratio of 6:1. That's six individuals working, and one retiree. In 2012, that was 4:1. In 2036 that's projected to be 2:1.

If we look at other G20 countries, we have aging populations. For example, Germany is at a median of 47; France, 41; Japan, 47; and Canada around 40-41. This is a cause of concern, because these countries are facing an aging population. To grow our economy and our population, immigration is essential.

With these numbers, an increased levels plan is essential to our economy. I believe our GDP in 2017 was $1,652 billion. Part of that GDP growth is because of an increase in immigration.

Could you elaborate on the ratios and what we plan to do in the future to help grow our GDP, and ensure that we don't have the aging population that we're seeing on the east coast or in the rest of Canada?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

That's a really important point to make.

The Conference Board of Canada has analyzed that without immigration the percentage of growth would drop by 0.6% of our GDP, which is pretty substantial.

In addition to that, when we arrived at the numbers we arrived at as a government, as you would know.... All of you were part of consultations that we did across the country to listen to employers, municipal government leaders, and other members of civil society. They asked repeatedly that we do two things. We should increase the number of permanent residents coming into Canada, and we should do it as part of a multi-year plan.

In the past we had one-year plans. The folks on the ground were saying to us that immigration is too important to have one-year plans. We have responded with a multi-year plan, a three-year plan that sees increases every single year.

That is precisely to respond to the real labour market and skills shortages that we have in Canada. The plan that we have in place responds in that manner. That's why 60% of that increase is in the economic categories of start-up visa, express entry, and the provincial nominee program. The provincial nominee program, which spreads the economic benefits of immigration across the country, will see a 33% increase over the life of this plan.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Previously, we initiated the global skills strategy. It's helped a lot of individuals who were coming to Canada in areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. Immigrants now represent a significant portion of that, filling 50% of these spaces.

Can you elaborate on that, and also talk about the skilled trade areas, where there are still gaps in that field?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

The global skills strategy is another program that we introduced last year, that came directly from employers. Employers were telling us that it was simply taking too long to get talent into Canada, and that we should streamline the process. We've delivered that engagement with the global skills strategy. It gets talent, and processes the work permit applications. In certain categories it has dropped that processing from seven months to two weeks.

In addition to that, researchers who are coming to conduct research at Canadian educational institutions or research institutes are exempted from obtaining a work permit. They can come for up to 120 days to conduct their research, collaborate with Canadian researchers and innovators, and then go back to their countries. Senior executives who come to do short-term leadership training or consulting can come for short periods of time without a work permit.

These programs are great, because they expose our research and innovation ecosystem to others. If they like what they see and have a good experience, they are then eligible to apply to stay permanently through the express entry system. We have made some changes to that as well, to encourage more international students, more francophone immigrants, more people who have siblings in Canada. Those changes are having an impact.

For example on the francophone side, we're seeing a doubling of the number of successful applicants coming through the express entry system, by some of the changes we made last year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you very much, Minister.

Mr. Tilson, you have five minutes.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Part of the reason our former Conservative government had a visa for Romania was the concern that there was a hub for sex trafficking into Canada. Mr. Minister, what has your government done to ensure that visa-free travel is not being used to fuel the sex trafficking industry?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Under our visa policy framework, the decision to lift a visa or impose one on a country is taken very seriously. We assess countries against both qualitative and quantitative criteria such as border management, travel document integrity, and trends related to irregular migration in Canada.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Yes, but what have you been doing, Mr. Minister, to ensure that this hasn't been happening?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We continue to monitor Romania against our visa policy framework. We already have established thresholds. We are exploring all options to mitigate the increase in asylum claims from Romania. As always, we reserve the right to reimpose a visa on a country should lifting it threaten the integrity of Canada's immigration system, or the safety and security of—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

There have been reports, Mr. Minister, that sex trafficking is continuing. Have you had any more thoughts of putting a visa requirement back onto Romania so that this practice will stop?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Unfortunately, your question doesn't provide me enough specifics.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

It's been in the media, Mr. Minister. There have been reports that sex trafficking continues from Romania into Canada. I'm sure you've read them or your assistants have read them. Therefore we would like to know what you intend to do.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Public Safety Canada leads the government's approach when it comes to human trafficking, as outlined in the national action plan to combat human trafficking, which is guided by the UN protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Yes, have you discussed this with Minister Goodale?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We are working with our Public Safety partners.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

What are they saying?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I would encourage you to—

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

You are the ones who put the visa on, so....

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

As I said, sir, imposing or lifting a visa requirement goes through a comprehensive process. We have a comprehensive visa policy.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I'm aware of that.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I would encourage you to look at it.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

It's going on. It's fine that Mr. Goodale may or may not have discussed this with you, but what are you going to do about it?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

We are monitoring it closely.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

One alternative is to put visas back on. I don't think Romania would like that, but what do you intend to do about it?