Debates of Oct. 24th, 2024

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

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

Mr. Speaker, since we still have no migrant distribution breakdown for the provinces, we run a real risk of seeing migration skyrocket following the U.S. election in 12 days' time. Without presuming to know the outcome, we are aware that Donald Trump plans to deport 11 million people. Our agencies have told us that, if he wins, they expect a lot of people to pack their bags and head for Canada. The last time that Trump threatened to deport people, Roxham Road happened.

If the minister is so smart, I guess he has a plan ready in case of a Trump victory. The election is 12 days from now.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I honestly did not hear a question in there.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the former immigration minister and MP for Central Nova oversaw the population growth in this country of 200% over the past several years. He lost track of the people he let in. Worse, he saw international students living in homeless shelters or with 14 roommates in a basement, all while he ignored his department's advice that it was too much, too fast. Watching the impact of these failed policies on housing, the Prime Minister said that was his guy for housing.

Why did the Prime Minister promote this guy instead of firing him?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition members would like to distract from the issues that matter most to Canadians. They focus these days on caucus unity. I would point out the member sits just a few seats down from a colleague she criticized just a few years ago for casting aspersions on the LGBTQ2+ community.

When it comes to the work we are doing to get homes built, we are doing everything we can to build more affordable housing. When the Conservative leader was in the position of housing minister, he got only six affordable housing units built across the entire country.

We are going to focus on what matters to Canadians, not the distractions the Conservatives try to put on the floor of the House of Commons.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 195,000 was the number, and that is a number the minister would only dream of building, because some people fail upwards. Even Canada's current immigration minister said, “It's really a system that has gotten out of control.” He was talking about the same immigration system controlled by the new housing guy, who lost track of the people he let in and is now laughably in charge of fuelling the housing crisis the Prime Minister created.

The Prime Minister cannot possibly fix housing, immigration or anything else because he is fighting his own caucus, so if the Prime Minister will not fire this guy, will he resign in disgrace?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are going to be disappointed to know that I spend no time or energy thinking about the insults they hurl at me. What concerns me is the insults they hurl at Canadians.

I have news for the hon. member, because she stated a fact that needs to be dispelled. Six is the number of affordable housing units the Conservative government helped build. The Conservatives are trying to take credit for the number of homes Canadians built. Here is the kicker: That number, if we accept it as the right metric, is the worst record of any housing minister in the last 10 years.

If they want a prize for their leaders' efforts, it is the prize for biggest loser.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up.

The former minister of immigration and MP for Central Nova has been responsible for the population growth of 200% in the past several years. Worse, he saw international students living in homeless shelters and cramped quarters while ignoring departmental warnings that immigration levels were rising too fast. Watching the impact of these failed policies on housing, the Prime Minister sat back and proudly said that that was his guy; that was his housing minister.

Why did the Prime Minister promote this minister instead of simply firing him? Are the two of them waiting to get a pink slip from the Liberal caucus?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, they want to talk about immigration as failure. I am surprised they call it a failure that we provided refuge to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Ukrainians who fled a war of aggression. I am surprised they think it is a failure to have made good on our commitment to welcome 40,000 Afghan refugees, including those who fought alongside the Canadian Forces.

I should not be surprised, because they have opposed our support for Ukraine every step of the way. They campaigned on a commitment to welcome precisely zero Afghan refugees. Immigration in this country is not a failure; it is a strength.

Health

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, 10 million Canadians will not have a family doctor by the end of the decade. With an aging population, this is unacceptable. The Liberals have been dragging their feet for years on health care, while the Conservatives' answer is to make people pay for that care.

Despite the Liberals' announcements, the pan-Canadian licensure for doctors is still not a reality. It would get more people connected with a doctor. Why are the Liberals dragging their feet on this simple health solution?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, that was an absolutely critical point of conversation at the last health ministers' meeting, where we committed to doing that. In fact, if we look at what was done in the Atlantic provinces, we are moving forward with exactly that. The agreements we have signed with every province and every territory are for $200 billion. Just today, we got baseline data showing that for surgical wait times and making sure surgeries are provided, we are ahead of where we were prior to the pandemic. There are also more doctors and nurses in virtually every province and every territory. We are making important progress.

Oil and Gas Industry

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, while Canadians are worried about massive flooding and wildfires, the Conservatives are rubbing elbows with the same CEOs who are fuelling the climate crisis. The Conservative leader spent a night schmoozing with these executives at his $1,600-a-plate fundraiser. He is not listening to hard-working Canadians. However, the Liberals are no better. They met with oil and gas lobbyists five times a day.

Canadians should come first, not CEOs, so why are the Liberals ripping a page from the Conservative playbook and putting CEOs ahead of people?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, as opposed to the Conservative leader, I can assure the member opposite that no oil lobbyists have organized fundraisers for me.

I would like to quote a colleague from her own party, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, who said, “as New Democrats, as progressives, as environmentalists, we are in favour of putting a price on pollution.” Well, it looks like, under pressure from the Conservatives, the NDP is no longer conservative, no longer progressive and no longer environmentalist.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today is a big day. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship just tabled the immigration levels plan for 2025-27. This is a comprehensive plan that will align the number of newcomers to the supports available in the country. As immigration is essential to Canada from an economic, social and cultural perspective, a well-managed, robust immigration system is vital.

Could the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship provide an update on our government's efforts toward ensuring a sustainable immigration system where everyone has a fair chance to succeed?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I want to personally thank the member for her contribution on this matter. She knows, on this side of the House, how important immigration is to this country, its past and its future.

We need a manageable system that is controllable. That is what we are doing today with the levels plan. The reductions we have proposed would alleviate the impacts on infrastructure and housing. It is something that Canadians can be immensely proud of. We should be very proud of the immigrants who continue to build this country and will make it better than what it is today.

Public Safety

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberals, violent crime is up and police have had enough. Frontline officers in Toronto, York, Vancouver and Surrey are all slamming the Prime Minister for his self-congratulatory social media campaign where he promoted his failed handgun policy that has done nothing to stop violent gun crime, which is up, in fact, by 116% since the Liberals took power nine years ago.

When is the Prime Minister going to stop patting himself on the back for his failures and start listening to police?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, one important difference between our government and the Conservative Party is that we do not believe that assault-style military firearms have a place on Canadian streets. We have made those firearms illegal. We are taking steps to compensate law-abiding gun owners who purchased these rifles, particularly so we can remove them from the streets. That is something that police officers, in conversations with me, have been very supportive of. They are very worried that the Conservative Party has plans to evacuate all those important measures. That is not in the interests of public safety.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to let the police associations speak for themselves to the Liberal minister and to the Liberal Prime Minister.

This is from Surrey, B.C.: “The federal handgun freeze fails to address the real issue: the surge of illegal firearms coming across our borders and ending up in the hands of violent criminals.” This is from Vancouver, B.C.: “Stopping legal sales won't stop criminals from getting guns illegally. You're only restricting law-abiding citizens while doing little to address actual...[gun] violence.”

When is the Prime Minister going to stop working against police, stop going after law-abiding citizens, and start going after the real problem: criminals?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I was surprised that our colleague raised the issue of border security. Our government, unlike the previous Conservative government, has invested precisely so that the Canada Border Services Agency would be able to interdict the illegal firearms crossing our borders.

We work with the RCMP, its policing partners and border services. The Conservatives cut the funding to these agencies, laid off hundreds of border services agents, and had plans to cut another 800. The good news is that the Conservatives lost the 2015 election. Liberals reinvested in those important priorities for Canadians, and we will continue to do so.

[Jamil Jivani, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of NDP-Liberals, crime is up because the Prime Minister's policies are failing. The Toronto Police Association says that violent crime is up 78% since the Liberals came into power. Shootings are up 45% since last year. Gun-related homicides are up 62% since last year.

When will the Prime Minister start listening to police associations across Canada and admit he is adding to the crime wave, not fighting it?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's contributions to the House; I just do not appreciate the hypocrisy.

What I would say is that assault-style rifles are not used for hunting deer. That is why we are taking them out of circulation. What I would also say with respect to guns and gangs is that if we do not want guns in our society, then we need to regulate the border. That is why we have invested over $390 million into CBSA, the exact amount of money cut by the Conservative Party. The member was not here yet, so I cannot fault him in particular, but I will fault his party for not doing anything to keep our borders safe and to keep guns out of our country.

[Jamil Jivani, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Minister of Justice continues to reveal just how out of touch the government is. We have real-time evidence of it. Less than three hours ago, there was a shooting in Toronto near Sheppard and Yonge, not far from the Minister of Justice's riding. As a result of that situation, a person is now lying in the hospital in life-threatening condition.

When will the government actually take responsibility for the crime it is causing and listen to the police?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that I listen to the police all the time.

They tell me that when guns are taken out of circulation, it helps keep things like gender-based violence and domestic violence from occurring. Women are getting killed because guns are in homes. When we pass a bill like Bill C-21, we disable that from happening and ensure that we are keeping women in this country safe. That is a priority or should be a priority for the entire Parliament. It is just really shocking that that member does not get it.

Justice

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in response to a question from the Bloc Québécois leader, the Prime Minister said that what is happening at Bedford school is justified by the teachers' freedom of expression.

Imposing religion in the classroom is not freedom of expression. That is precisely why we need secularism. Secularism allows everyone to believe, or not believe, in what they want, according to their conscience, freely.

Do the Liberals realize that they are attacking Quebeckers' freedom of conscience?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my colleague, what he just said is revolting. The Prime Minister never said that.

Yesterday, on several occasions, the Prime Minister said that it was unacceptable for children in Quebec to be treated in this way. He also said that it was the responsibility of the Quebec government to deal with this problem as it falls under their jurisdiction.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when we talk to the Prime Minister about religious intransigence, he responds by telling us that the Liberals are always there to defend freedom of expression.

First off, let us be clear: There are better examples of freedom of expression than religion. When an adult imposes his religious beliefs in class on children, there is no room for freedom in any of that. Religion must remain in the private domain, not the public domain. That is the principle of state secularism and neutrality, and that is what the Liberals want to challenge in court.

Can the Liberal government agree, once and for all, not to directly or indirectly challenge Bill 21?