Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 1st, 2024

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

This type of political interference causes Canadians to lose faith in our system, and the government's decision to halt this deportation should not go without explanation. That's all I'm saying.

I call on all committee members to demand the appearance of the minister and the member for Vancouver Quadra so Canadians can get the answers they deserve. I think that's the very least we can ask for, Mr. Chair.

I'll pass it over to my colleagues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Mr. Maguire, if you're telling me this, is it just a speech or do you want to make an amendment to Mr. McLean's motion?

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

No, I was supporting my colleague's motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Okay. I wanted to make sure because you were saying that the minister should come and a member should come.

You're giving directions or asking for a direction from the committee.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

That's right. I'm done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

I take it that this is not an amendment. You're just supporting.

Mr. Redekopp, go ahead.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Thank you.

I want to weigh in briefly on this as well.

This case of Zain Haq exemplifies the wacko world we live in with Justin Trudeau's Liberal politics right now.

He was a student who came to Canada, a foreign student. We know there are some issues with some students who come here to work but not necessarily to go to school. To me, it looks as though he was an example of that. In fact, he was more of an eco-terrorist, working particularly against our resource industries—things like fisheries, forestry, oil and gas and mining. Basically all the resources from which Canadians make a living were the things he was taking steps to actively disrupt and harm. This is undisputed, because he has been convicted multiple times. That's why CBSA wanted to deport him.

According to an interview he gave afterward, the deportation was stopped because of Trudeau's former fisheries minister, Joyce Murray. That's very interesting and confusing to me, because I would assume that the minister in charge of fisheries would not want somebody who's essentially an eco-terrorist to come in and disrupt fisheries and mess up our fishery industry.

That's why I think it's important that we get to the bottom of this. That's why I support calling the minister and Joyce Murray before this committee so we can ask them questions, as has been proposed here.

I think we can vote on this motion.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

Is there any more debate? If there is none, I'll call for the vote.

(Motion negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you have your hand up.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, I'm going to take two or three minutes of the committee's time. I'm not putting forward a motion. I simply want to address a situation and describe what happened on April 10.

The committee decided not to meet that day, and the meeting was cancelled. My understanding is that, on April 9, the chair was advised that members from some parties had commitments to mark a religious holiday, Eid. A decision was made to ask the rest of the committee whether it was possible to cancel the committee meeting with less than 24 hours' notice. I said that I didn't agree with doing that, but the meeting was cancelled, regardless.

I don't want to point fingers. I just want people to know what happened. Eid celebrations aren't just held at the last minute. They are scheduled. Mr. Chair, when I commit to an event, whether it's in my riding or in honour of some holiday, and I need someone to fill in for me on the committee, I contact my whip's office and ask to have another member of my caucus take my place.

I think what happened on April 10 is unacceptable, because it wasn't some new event. Everyone knows that Christmas is on December 25 every year, and they plan accordingly. The members of the committee who had commitments to celebrate Eid could have easily asked their whip's office to have a fellow caucus member stand in for them, and the committee meeting could have gone on as planned.

I often hear committee members talk about how much work the committee has and how we are constantly having to delay our work. That's why I think it's unacceptable to cancel a meeting for something that was entirely foreseeable.

I have the utmost respect for members who committed to attending Eid celebrations in their ridings or communities. That's perfectly fine, and I deeply respect that decision. What is not acceptable, however, is being told 24 hours before a meeting that members can't be there because of a religious holiday. It's on the calendar, Mr. Chair. It doesn't make a lick of sense, as they say.

Mr. Chair, I hope all of my fellow members will agree with me on this. The next time something like this happens and members ask for a committee meeting to be cancelled, I would ask that the request not be granted unless all parties represented on the committee agree. If a member of any party in the House of Commons disagrees with cancelling the meeting, it should go ahead. I'm asking my fellow committee members to think about what happened and bear this in mind going forward.

We are here to work, and if you have a commitment to celebrate a religious holiday or any other commitment in your riding, you need to ask your whip to have someone fill in for you. My caucus has 32 members, and I can easily get someone to stand in for me. I would think, then, that the members of the parties in the House of Commons who sit on this committee and whose caucuses have more than a hundred members each, can manage to find a replacement.

I hope this won't happen again. I hope everyone has understood the message I'm trying to deliver in a very respectful way, and I hope everyone will agree with my proposal. That way, we can start anew.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

I have two speakers on the list: Mr. Chiang and then Mrs. Zahid.

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Chair, I move to adjourn the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

The motion is non-debatable. Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

The meeting is adjourned.