Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
From my perspective, I actually think it is absolutely essential that numbers for immigration levels also be considered in this humanitarian crisis. If in fact the government moves to including refugee opportunities for Ukrainians, then we need to actually adjust the numbers for the levels. Otherwise, all that does is put pressure on other countries that need those levels numbers, because there's no magic here. This is a zero-sum game. For these numbers, if you take from one place, the others will fall short.
We saw that in fact, through an ATIP, with respect to the government's approach on incorporating the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis and the TR to PR initiative. The government announced those immigration measures without bringing in additional staffing resources and immigration levels numbers, which meant that numbers for the express entry system for the skilled foreign workers category were going to be paused for some years as a result.
Those are the kinds of repercussions we have when we make announcements without taking into consideration the entire picture. I think it is quite critical that immigration levels numbers be considered and adjusted if necessary. I am taking into consideration Quebec and recognizing Quebec's authority, which is why my amendment incorporated that aspect as well.
With respect to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe's concern—that if population numbers increased in other provinces, they would drop in Quebec—if their overall population in comparison to that of other provinces was decreased, we could think about other initiatives in collaboration with the Quebec government to see how we could adjust that, including, for example, by boosting up the numbers for immigration measures for francophone immigrants. [Technical difficulty—Editor] we can adjust that by way of immigration measures.
That's why I think my amendment has broad enough language that respects Quebec's authority on immigration. That would require the government to talk to the Quebec government to ensure that those concerns are addressed accordingly.
I would urge committee members to reconsider their thoughts on this. Leaving out immigration levels numbers will cause a problem down the road, and that's something that I think we can all agree we don't want to see.