Debates of May 24th, 2018

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

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague from St. John's East for his question and the excellent work he does at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

The arrival of newcomers to Canada is very important, especially when it comes to economic immigration, since we have to meet our labour needs. Our goal is to bring skilled workers into Canada as quickly as possibly so that they may contribute to the economy as quickly as possible.

It has been proven that businesses founded by immigrants have a higher success rate and they contribute to creating countless jobs and generating trade and investment. That is why our government created the start-up visa program, which helps these economic immigrants to create wealth in Canada, support our economy, and meet our need for skilled labour. That is why this program is one of our priorities, just like other sectors of economic immigration.

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

Mr. Chair, I had mentioned the Atlantic immigration pilot in my remarks. It is really popular with businesses in my riding. They are reaching out to me all the time. They want to know how they can become designated as employers in their areas and attract the very specialized talent that companies like Kraken Robotics, Bluedrop, or a number of other companies need for their very particular and high-tech workforce. Verafin is another.

Now that this program has been under operation for one year, could the parliamentary secretary give us an update on how the Atlantic immigration pilot is driving immigration to our region?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, as is the case for my colleague, this program is close to my heart because I also represent the Atlantic region. This program is excellent for Atlantic Canada and will make it possible for us to welcome to Canada 2,000 immigrants a year for the next three years.

The Atlantic provinces have an aging population and we need the Atlantic immigration pilot initiative to address these challenges. This program focuses on businesses in key sectors of our economy that need workers, and it has been very successful. More than 1,000 employers are participating at present and there are more than 1,500 candidates.

Once again, this is a program that specifically targets Atlantic Canada. Atlantic businesses and provincial governments are very grateful for it. I am certain that this program will be very successful. In the past year alone, we have seen more employers and candidates participating in this program.

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

Mr. Chair, as a final follow-up question to the areas of interest and the different programs I highlighted in my remarks, I am hoping the parliamentary secretary can provide us some of the results so far with respect to the global skills strategy. How many individuals have come to Canada under the program since it was launched?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, the strategy is working well.

As of December 31, 2017, more than 4,400 applications had been approved under the global skills strategy, which was launched in June. Applications are processed in two weeks for highly skilled employees. Clearly, this program is working very well and we are proud of it.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, I will spend my complete 15 minutes asking questions.

Why is the minister being so unfair? He is sending his staff to process illegal border crossers instead of bringing the children of live-in caregivers to come to Canada, over 80 of his staff.

Live-in caregivers care for so many of our children, yet their own children have to wait to come to Canada, while the minister sends over 80 of his staff away to process work permits for illegal border crossers.

Why is he being so unfair?

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

Mr. Chair, the fact is that we have reduced the backlog by 63% in the live-in caregiver program and we have significantly cut processing times for caregivers, from five to seven years under the Conservatives down to 12 months under this government.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, why did the minister unfairly reallocate staff from processing family reunification cases to deal with the illegal border crossers? It is so sad that these grandmothers and grandfathers will not be able to come to care for their families.

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

Mr. Chair, under the Conservatives, spousal sponsorships used to take 26 months or more, depending on the country of origin the spouse was coming from. We have made that a priority. We have put extra resources and staff to process spousal sponsorships. We have cut the processing time from 26 months down to 12 months. We have eliminated the backlog in the spousal sponsorship program.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, why did the minister unfairly send staff to process illegal border crossers instead of helping process all the people who were trying to come to Canada as economic migrants, who want to start businesses in Canada? He sent over 80 staff to Montreal to process illegal border crossers while these business owners waited. Why?

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

Mr. Chair, we have dramatically improved the processing times for all streams of immigration, whether it is spousal sponsorship or live-in caregiver programs. We have a really good track record when it comes to economic immigration. Our federal skilled worker program is working really well to attract the best and the brightest from around the world. We will see an increase by 33% in the provincial nominee program.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, veterans who fought for Canada are homeless. Right now there are only 20 open spots in Toronto homeless shelters because that unfair minister is helping people illegally cross the border from the United States into Canada.

Why has he filled Toronto homeless shelters with illegal border crossers?

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

Mr. Chair, the hon. member knows that asylum claimants are processed in a separate stream of immigration by the Immigration and Refugee Board. All the other streams of immigrants are processed by IRCC. The two are separate and do not affect each other.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, the problem is that the minister sent 80 staffers to do the processing. It takes seven and a half years to come to Canada as a privately sponsored refugee from Djibouti. This is crazy. This is because the minister is sending his staff to process refugees from the United States of America. This is also crazy. We go to the United States to vacation. It is safe there.

Why is the minister making the world's most vulnerable wait for seven years? Why is he being so unfair?

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

Mr. Chair, the hon. member is actually speaking about the record of her party when it was in office. It was the Harper Conservatives who had really bad wait times for refugees. It was the Harper Conservatives who had really bad wait times on allocations for privately sponsored refugees. It was the Harper Conservatives who cut refugee health care. It was the Harper Conservatives who really did not put a priority on immigration processing.

I am really amazed at this newfound passion for refugee processing. This is quite the spectacle.

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind hon. members that this is a team sport, but the team gets together in the lobby or quietly, not during the discussion.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Imagine, Mr. Chair, there are zero days for illegal border crossers, while so many Iranians have been waiting for many years to get their applications processed. Why is the minister being so unfair and sending his staff to personally process illegal border crossers while Iranians have to wait a very long time? Does he not know that Iran is not safe? Does he think that the United States is the same as Iran?

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

Mr. Chair, it is the record that our government has with respect to refugee processing. Not only that, we have doubled the number of resettled refugees under our plan. We have more than quadrupled the number of privately sponsored refugees compared to the party opposite. Therefore, we have a good track record, not only in increasing the number of refugees that we resettle into Canada, but also in the processing time.

The fact is that the Harper Conservatives had unlimited intake but very limited output, which resulted in huge backlogs that we inherited. We are working very hard to eliminate that. We have already reduced the processing time of privately sponsored refugees by 25 months.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, it is one million times faster for the illegal border crossers.

I have a constituent who is sponsoring her spouse to come to Canada. Guess what. She has to wait, and wait a long time. She is watching all the people illegally crossing the border from the United States, and she says that it is not fair.

Why is the minister sending staff to process illegal border crossers, while my constituent's spouse has to wait? Why is he being so unfair?

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

Mr. Chair, I wish the member opposite and her party brought the same passion to immigration processing when they were in power. Spouses waited longer under their watch. Spouses and children waited longer. Refugees waited longer. Live-in caregivers waited five to seven years under the Conservatives' watch.

We have improved processing times for privately sponsored refugees by 25 months, spouses by 14 months, live-in caregivers from five to seven years under the Conservatives' watch to 12 months under our watch.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, the minister himself is only passionate about illegal border crossers. I have constituents from India who are trying to get their auntie to come to Canada for a visit. However, the unfair minister is sending his staff to process illegal border crossers instead of their aunt. Why is this minister so unfair?

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

Mr. Chair, repeating something that is an underlying inaccuracy does not make it real.

The fact is that the processing of asylum claimants is done separately from all the other immigration streams. We are proud of the work that we have done to reduce the processing times that were left to us by the Harper Conservatives. We understand the importance of reuniting families, which is why we have brought down the processing times for spouses and live-in caregivers.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, the fact is that the minister moved the other resources into just processing the illegal border crossers. There are so many people who want to come to Canada to start businesses, but the unfair minister is sending his staff to process people who are illegally crossing the border from the United States of America.

The United States of America is a place where people go to be safe. What is he thinking? Why is he making people who want to start businesses in Canada wait while he processes illegal border crossers? Why is he so unfair?

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

Mr. Chair, I will repeat this for the nth time. Refugee claimants are processed separately from all the other streams of immigration. The fact is that one does not affect the other. I hope the hon. member understands that.

The fact is that we are the government that has reduced processing times. We are the government that continues to reunite families. We are the government that has eliminated backlogs left to us by the Harper Conservatives.

We understand that investment follows talent. We have redoubled the number of resettled refugees from overseas. We have quadrupled the number of privately sponsored refugees.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Chair, the illegal border crossers are using our regular resources. The 80 people all came from other resources. I do not understand. I do not understand why the minister is prioritizing illegal people coming into Canada from the United States. This is one of the most free countries in the world.

Now, talking about money, he is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to let illegal border crossers get work permits while people in my riding are unemployed.

He is doing a really bad job. Why is he being so unfair?