Debates of May 24th, 2018

Department of Citizenship and Immigration—Main Estimates, 2018-19

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, will the minister table the documents on the breakdown once he receives them?

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

Mr. Chair, we are engaged with Quebec in discussions on the figure Quebec has provided to us. We have asked Quebec to work with us to provide us with a breakdown of that number, and those discussions are ongoing.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, I see the tactic. The minister refuses to answer any questions. My question was whether he will table the figures, and he will not answer that question.

How much has been provided to Manitoba, given the influx they first experienced?

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

Mr. Chair, I am proud of the fact that we have a good working relationship with the Province of Manitoba. A few weeks ago, I met with the premier of Manitoba, Premier Pallister. He is on record as applauding our government's response to Manitoba and our working relationship. Of course, we continue to work with Manitoba to address any pressure points that are emerging out of this issue.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, has the ministry or the government provided any additional dollars to Manitoba to deal with the first influx?

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

Mr. Chair, as I said, the Canada social transfer is responsible for assisting provinces with social service costs being provided to all residents of those provinces, including asylum seekers.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, so the answer is no.

What triggers federal support for provinces with asylum seekers when there is a large influx?

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

Mr. Chair, the hon. member knows, or should know, that asylum seekers access provincial social services. The federal government is responsible for providing settlement services to permanent residents, overseas resettled refugees, and family class and economic immigrants, while asylum seekers come under the responsibility of provincial governments. However, we do assist provinces with social service costs through the Canada social transfer.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, these are extraordinary times. That is why Quebec is coming to the federal government asking for additional dollars above and beyond the transfer payments. That is why the government is engaging in negotiations with them. My question was fairly straight up about whether or not the government provided any money to Manitoba, but the minister will not answer that question. There is a formula that triggers that support, but the minister will not provide that information either. So much for openness and transparency.

In light of the issue around the fearmongering that is going on with the Conservatives, can the minister confirm that there is no queue-jumping going on with asylum seekers?

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

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for this question. That is a really important point. There is absolutely no queue-jumping when it comes to processing of asylum claims, and she is absolutely right that the Conservatives are muddying the waters. They are creating fear by pitting one group of people who are accessing our immigration system against another. That is the politics of fear and division that we have abandoned and that Canadians resolutely rejected in 2015. I congratulate the hon. member for raising that point.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, I know that the minister has now changed his word. He is no longer using the word “illegal” to describe asylum seekers. He is now using the word “irregular”, which I acknowledge as well. Is it not the case that inland asylum seekers are under the protected persons stream and that their applications do not impact other immigration streams?

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

Mr. Chair, yes, the hon. member is correct. We have allocations in our multi-year levels plan for protected persons, and that is the stream that processes successful refugee claims from people who have been found to have genuine refugee cases. Those who are not found to have genuine refugee cases are then removed from Canada and therefore do not affect the permanent residence numbers.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, could the minister confirm if any levels in these other streams have been impacted or changed as the result of asylum seekers? The Conservatives would like us to think that somehow immigration streams are being impacted. Just a yes-or-no answer will do.

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

Mr. Chair, I join the hon. member in agreeing with her on the fact that the Conservatives are deliberately misleading Canadians on this so-called queue-jumping. That is not happening. There is no queue-jumping.

Refugee claimants are processed by the independent quasi-judicial Immigration and Refugee Board. All other immigrants, whether they are family class, overseas resettled refugees, or economic immigrants, are processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, could the minister confirm if any funding for the processing of other immigration streams has been diverted to process inland asylum claims?

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

Mr. Chair, we have been able to respond to the unusual increase in asylum claims last year by being nimble, by reallocating resources and staff to make sure that we address pressure points. We were successful in doing that. I congratulate the IRCC, CBSA, RCMP, and all the other agencies that were able to handle professionally the extraordinary situation that we faced last year.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, with respect to the realignment, where did the staff come from and what are the implications of this realignment?

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

Mr. Chair, as announced in budget 2018, we are investing $173.2 million in further border security operations as well as faster processing of asylum claims by putting $74 million of that into the IRB for faster processing of refugee claims.

The fact of the matter is that the department spent in 2017-18 a total of $23.9 million on irregular migration.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, the realignment that the minister speaks of is an additional funding of $76 million. Is that correct?

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

Mr. Chair, what I said was that as part of budget 2018, we are allocating $173.2 million on the issue of irregular migration and that $74 million of that $173.2 million will go to the Immigration and Refugee Board so that refugee claims can be processed faster. Those who are found to have a legitimate claim for refugee status get to stay; those who do not have a legitimate claim for protection get to be removed from Canada.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, clearly I am not going to get a clear answer on that. Okay.

The minister and the government committed to expediting the work permit approvals for asylum claimants entering into Canada via Roxham Road. Will the government adopt this as a standard for processing times for all work permits?

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

Mr. Chair, we have reduced the processing time for work permits from three months to three weeks and we have issued over 13,000 work permits to asylum seekers in Quebec alone.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Chair, it is my pleasure to lend my voice to this important discussion on the Department of Citizenship and Immigration's main estimates for 2018-19. I am especially pleased to be doing so on this side of the House, since I normally sit on the other side.

As we know, generations of newcomers have come from other places in the world and helped to shape and strengthen our prosperity and our nation's social and cultural fabric. Immigrants support the growth of Canada’s labour force, contributing new skills. They bring to Canada an entrepreneurial spirit, creating jobs and boosting innovation through new perspectives and diverse insights. They also open new trade markets and investment networks to Canadians.

It goes without saying that immigration benefits our economic and demographic growth, innovation, prosperity, and our efforts at nation building. Throughout our history, immigrants have made significant contributions to our economy, creating new businesses and jobs and helping to enhance Canada's competitiveness globally. With their strong work ethic and drive to succeed, immigrants have started many of our country’s successful small and medium-sized businesses. Immigrants also represent the founders of some of Canada's most successful enterprises. In fact, recent immigrants now surpass Canadians in self-employment and private business ownership.

Also, businesses owned by recent immigrants are more likely to sell their products to other countries, helping Canada to open up markets beyond the United States. While many Canadians often think about immigration as a way to fill jobs that already exist, there is no doubt that some of our most creative and successful innovators and entrepreneurs are immigrants. Quite simply, our economy needs immigrants.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, without immigration, Canada's potential economic growth would slow from 1.9% annually to an average of 1.3% annually.

In their report, “Canada 2040: No Immigration Versus More Immigration”, the Conference Board of Canada shows that Canada's population would age much more rapidly without immigration. This would mean that our labour force would be drastically reduced, making it even more difficult for us to pay for social services such as health care.

Canada would need to increase taxes to compensate for fewer workers, meaning many businesses would likely forgo operations in Canada. This would ultimately result in lower levels of business investment.

In recognition of the important role that immigration plays in shaping our economy and contributing to our country's future prosperity, budget 2018 will provide ongoing funding to support our government's increased immigration levels.

As members know, under this plan we will increase our immigration levels to nearly 1% of the population. This increase is necessary in order to sustain a healthy level of economic growth across the country. Beginning with an increase of 310,000 permanent residents per year in 2018, annual admissions will reach 340,000 in 2020.

Increased immigration will not only ensure that we are able to continue increasing the size of our labour force and grow our economy. It will also help to support our health care system, public pensions, and other social programs in the decades to come. That is why 60% of the growth in immigration levels over the next three years will come through our economic programs.

Prominent among these, of course, is our provincial nominee program, which helps meet regional labour needs and distributes the benefits of immigration across the country. Immigration plays a key role in driving Canada's economic success and will continue to fuel our economic growth for many years to come. That is why the government is focused on tailoring our immigration programs to better address our labour market skills shortages and to help drive our economy forward. We are introducing new programs, testing new ideas, and instituting faster processing that will help Canada to attract the talent we need to ensure our economic prosperity.

Another element is the start-up visa program. Under Canada's start-up visa program, we are strengthening the Canadian economy through innovation. The program makes it easier for foreign entrepreneurs actively pursuing new business ventures in Canada to become permanent residents. The start-up visa program was initially launched as a pilot project. When it first started, the start-up visa was a small, low-volume program, but in recent years it has seen increased interest from global entrepreneurs eager to come to Canada and grow their businesses. Unlike similar programs in other countries, by granting permanent residence status up front, the start-up visa allows immigrant entrepreneurs to take bigger risks to build successful companies right here in Canada.

Eligible entrepreneurs with viable business proposals can become Canadian permanent residents once they have secured the support of a Canadian venture capital fund, angel investor group, or business incubator, and once their immigration application has been approved.

After much success, I am pleased that this program has become a permanent feature of our immigration system, as announced in budget 2018. Under the start-up visa program, Canada will be able to continue attracting more talented innovators who have the ability to drive economic growth and help create more jobs for Canadians.

The global skills strategy is also designed to help attract the best minds from other countries.

As members know, the global skills strategy is meant to help employers in Canada bring in the high-skilled talent that they need, when they need it.

We know that Canada is an attractive place for companies to set up or scale up operations, but ensuring they can access the talented workers they need quickly can be a concern.

By facilitating the faster entry of top talent with unique skill sets and global experience, we will help innovative companies in Canada grow, flourish, and create more jobs for Canadians.

To that end, the global skills strategy has set an ambitious two-week standard for processing visas and work permits for low-risk, high-skill talent for companies doing business in Canada.

In a nutshell, the global skills strategy can help companies to bring in senior management, trainers from other locations, and the highly skilled talent they will need to get off the ground in Canada or expand their operations and grow their companies. In the longer term, many highly skilled workers who come to Canada temporarily as a result of the global skills strategy may also seek to immigrate to Canada on a permanent basis.

Something that is close to my heart is a third project, the Atlantic immigration pilot. While our entire country is faced with looming demographic challenges, we know that these challenges have already presented themselves and are more pronounced in the Atlantic Canada region. Immigration is vital to sustaining Atlantic Canada's workforce and economy, and its future success will largely depend on our ability to attract and retain more newcomers to our region.

As part of our government's Atlantic growth strategy, the Atlantic immigration pilot program has tremendous potential to not only help employers meet their labour market needs but to also fuel economic growth in all of Atlantic Canada. This is an employer-driven program, which means that businesses can find skilled immigrants with the specific skills they need. It also allows those employers to bring the families of the workers.

Another key element of the Atlantic immigration pilot is the targeting of international students as excellent candidates to become skilled permanent immigrants. Under the AlP, employers in the Atlantic provinces can hire international students and endorse them for permanent residence. The Atlantic immigration pilot is also a great example of how we are working with the broader community, employers in particular, to ensure newcomers stay in Atlantic Canada once they are settled.

An innovative part of this program is that with the help of settlement service providers, all immigrants who arrive under the Atlantic immigration pilot will have a settlement plan in place. In order to ensure that newcomers can integrate and succeed, we absolutely must ensure that they feel supported in their new communities so that they will stay in Atlantic Canada and help it grow.

As Canadians, we believe that welcoming immigrants to Canada and helping them settle and integrate into our society provides our country with great opportunities and a competitive advantage.

In fact, we do not simply believe these things, we have witnessed the benefits of welcoming newcomers over and over again throughout Canadian history.

Through our government’s multi-year immigration levels plan and our innovative economic immigration programs, I think we are well placed to ensure that Canada can attract high-skilled workers who can support our economic growth for many years to come.

Mr. Chair, I would like to ask a few questions. Can I do that now?

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for St. John's East.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Chair, we know there are well-designed economic immigration programs in place, and from time to time we hear success stories. It could be an enterprising immigrant entrepreneur or a successful start-up. How important are economic immigration programs to the future of our country?