Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 15th, 2026

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

You keep bringing up the labour shortage, saying that businesses face two options: either bring in more foreign labour or shut down. This seems to be the theme that you're driving in this committee today. Is the choice really this binary?

[David Pierce]

Of course, there are a number of different factors that might be weighed in their approach, but when you talk about the roles that are available to the sectors that need them, to the growth that we're facing in certain sectors, I think it's fundamentally pretty—

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Should the priority be creating work placements for Canadian youth through apprenticeships, co-ops, entry-level jobs in Canada before employers are given access to this cheap temporary foreign labour?

[David Pierce]

As I said in response to one of the questions, a Canadian or permanent resident who is interested in a job and is qualified for that job should have access to that job before anybody else, period.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

However, you're at the immigration committee today, and you just lobbied the deputy minister of immigration not once but multiple times last month, so I and Canadians watching at home find it hard to believe the words that are coming out of your mouth right now.

[David Pierce]

I don't know that it's a proof point that we have a line of communication with the deputy's office at IRCC. That to me is what the business community should be doing and ought to be doing, and frankly, many—

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I understand why the business community wants to talk to the Department of Industry or the industry committee. I completely understand that, but this is the immigration committee. You just said that you do support Canadian workers and Canadian youth, yet you're here at the immigration committee. How can having a more open immigration policy be standing up for Canadian youth? How do you reconcile that?

[David Pierce]

I fundamentally disagree with the approach in your question.

Immigration policy is economic policy. If we don't have a sustainable immigrant.... Sir, go back and look at the population numbers. The demographic challenges facing our country are tremendous.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

I'm going to end with the last question. You're just wasting our time here.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you.

Mr. Fragiskatos has a point of order.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Stop my clock, please.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

We can stop the clock. It's no problem.

Mr. Ho now says that the witness is wasting our time. I don't think so—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

This is a point of debate.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

It's not. It's about decorum. There's a basic respect that needs to be shown to witnesses.

A few moments ago, he implied that the witness was lying—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

This is a point of debate.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London Centre, ON]

—to the committee. I let that go, but this is just a basic part of professionalism. A basic respect needs to be at the table here. I would just remind my colleague of that.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

On a point of order, this is a point of debate, not a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Fragiskatos, and thank you, Ms. Rempel Garner.

I think decorum is important and I do think that it's important for us to treat our witnesses with respect.

Mr. Ho, you have 30 seconds left.

[Vincent Ho, Conservative, Richmond Hill South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chamber of Commerce has criticized caps and reductions on international students and temporary residents in the past, and in your earlier remarks you mentioned housing pressures and infrastructure strain and pressure on public services because of uncontrolled levels of immigration, so how is it that you're still at this committee, on the same day, still advocating for more temporary foreign labour, including low-skilled labour? These are words that came out of your mouth.

[David Pierce]

It's because Canada's a big country. The needs in one part of the country are fundamentally different from those in other parts of the country. A labour shortage in Thunder Bay is not resolved by a higher proportion of youth wanting to work in Toronto. Those realities can be different across the country.

At the chamber, one of our strongest positions is that we want to see provinces more engaged in the immigration system, because they know the regions of their province better. Think of the pressures on northern Ontario versus southern Ontario: They're fundamentally different. Imagine the federal government trying to assess the needs of northern Ontario in isolation from elsewhere.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Pierce.

Thank you, Mr. Ho.

Next, we go for five minutes to Mr. Zuberi.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thanks to the witnesses for being here.

This study is about acquiring talent and ensuring that credentials are recognized. We have a number of programs focused upon that. That's why we're here today—to talk about the immigration system.

Mr. Pierce, you mentioned something earlier with respect to the number of immigrants that were let into the country last year and how that is a drastic difference from years previous.

There are reasons for that. Canadians started to, by and large, not be so comfortable with where things were going. We, as government, responded and tightened the belt a bit. We made sure that we restored integrity to the immigration system, which we have done. Now the growth for Canada has actually declined for the first time in decades, I believe.

In your opening testimony, you hinted that this will be a challenge for the future. Can you elaborate on that?

[David Pierce]

Thank you. I'd love to.

Bringing it back to why immigration is an economic issue, population decline should be one of the biggest issues being wrestled with in Parliament right now. The actuarial math for the CPP, for all of our pension systems and for government programs is based on a growing population. If you turn that upside down, the risk to Canada's economy is tremendous.

As I mentioned in the previous line of questioning, the regional impact is different across the country. We all understand why the government made the decision it did on reducing the levels, and that's fine. The messages from businesses rurally and other parts of the country are not the same as from some urban parts of the country.

Looking to the social program discussion and our social services, every social service dollar started as a private sector dollar. If you're going to shrink business through policies like this for a sustained period of time, with the backdrop of this overall economic pressure, crisis or whatever you want to call it that we've been facing in Canada over the past 12 to 16 months, that's a really big risk to our overall economy. It's something we're advocating to—

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I studied mathematics and looked at becoming an actuary, once upon a time. From my understanding, our pension system by and large requires workers to be working to support the tax base. Right now, if we keep the status quo, we'll be whittling down the number of workers supporting seniors and retirement programs into the future. Do you also see that as being a challenge?