Evidence of meeting #8 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
First, if a complaint is lodged with law enforcement, it will be up to law enforcement to investigate. For any other issues regarding immigration, we work very closely with the public safety enforcement agencies to ensure that all national security issues are addressed.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Sorry for interrupting, but your time is up.
We will now move on to Mr. Dhaliwal.
Mr. Dhaliwal, you have five minutes, and that will end the round with the minister.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the minister and the officials for the hard work they do even during these pandemic situations.
Minister, I want to commend you for another thing, which is clearing the mess the Conservatives left, particularly if we look at the waiting times for the parents and grandparents class. It took almost seven years under the Conservatives and now it's come down to two years. On the spousal cases, it was taking more than two years and you brought it down to under one year. Not only that, Minister, but when I look at the number of applications your department accepted, it's four times more than what the Conservatives were accepting—5,000 versus 30,000 next year. This is a credit to you, Minister, on that.
Minister, I also want to echo Mr. Hallan's idea on the low-skilled occupations—not only trucks drivers, but also the front-line workers, tradespeople and many of the other trades. I would love to see you and your department find a way for these temporary workers to obtain a pathway to permanent residency, even though in 2019, 74,586 out of 340,000 permanent immigrants were temporary workers.
The other question I have for you, Minister, is this. Just last week, I had the opportunity to meet with members of the United Refugee Council Canada and heard their concerns on behalf of refugees who have been in Canada for many years. Many of them are working on the front lines—in food processing, the trucking industry and health care—and all those can also speak English and French very fluently.
I would like to see you find a path for them to become temporary workers, and then from the temporary worker status ultimately towards a path to permanent residency. Would you see if it can be done?
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
We can't hear you, Minister, sorry. Are you hearing us?
Mr. Clerk, is it anything from our end or from the minister's?
4:50 p.m.
The Clerk
We understand that the audio on our end is fine. It might be the battery at his end.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Minister, we can't hear you. Is it the battery from your end, as the clerk is saying?
4:50 p.m.
The Clerk
I'm sorry, Madam Chair. I'm limited from where I am to further assist. I regret this.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Madam Chair, maybe we can add something in the chat box. Maybe he can't hear us either. Maybe send him a message.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Madam Chair, can one of the Liberal MPs call the minister and ask him if his battery is the problem? Can somebody do something about this, please?
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Yes. Let me find out.
The minister can't hear us either, so he will disconnect and then connect back. We will just do one last try, and then we will proceed.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC
Madam Chair, while we wait, I'd like to move that the committee vote on a motion. It would be to ask the minister that his next appearance before the committee be in person or, otherwise, that he use the headset provided by the House.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
What we will do at the end, after we hear from the second panel.... Let him log in. Otherwise, we will look into another option.
He's logging in. Let's see.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Unfortunately, I caught just the first part of it and did not hear the tail end, but if you can summarize it, I'd be happy to respond.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Minister, basically I said that I echo Jasraj's comment, but not limiting it only to the truck drivers. In fact, there are many front-line workers, tradespeople and the transport industry that all provide valuable services. Can you see if you can help those temporary workers to gain a pathway to permanent residency, even though in 2019 only 22% of permanent immigration came through the temporary stream?
The second question I asked was in regard to.... Just last week, I had the opportunity to meet with the members of United Refugee Council Canada, along with Anju Dhillon, and heard their concerns on behalf of the refugees who have been in Canada for many years. Many of them are working and are in front-line food processing, health care and transport, and they can speak French and English fluently. I would like to see if you and your department can find a pathway from being a refugee asylum seeker to the temporary worker stage, and ultimately to a path to permanent residency.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal, and thank you for your advocacy as well.
As I said, we're at a very critical moment where we can look at many groups within Canada, as a result of the measures that we've had to take at the border throughout the pandemic, to see for those who are contributing to COVID-19 in the essential sectors whether or not there is a way to accelerate their pathway to becoming permanent residents. That includes workers, students and, as you pointed out, asylum seekers.
I know that your advocacy has been instrumental in putting forward some of these proposals. I look forward to working with you and all the members of the House on continuing to ensure that immigration will drive our economic recovery coming out of the pandemic, and our long-term prosperity.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you.
Minister, again, I commend your work on the PGP stream and the 30,000 applications that you are going to take next year. Are you going to see a different stream that will satisfy a lot of people who have issues with the lottery system?
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Marco Mendicino Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
As you know, the parent and grandparent program is an important demonstration of our government's commitment to reuniting families, with 40,000 spaces over the next three years, the most ever for that period of time.
I know that there are questions raised sometimes about the way in which we receive expressions of interest. As I said, I've always kept an open mind to ensure that we are creating a level playing field for what is a very popular, high-in-demand route or pathway to reuniting families. I look forward to working with you and all members on this issue.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you.
Again, thank you, Minister, for all the great work that you have done in cleaning up the mess that the Conservatives left behind.