Debates of June 9th, 2025

Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A), 2025-26

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, we are reducing the number by 5% of the population. This is in our levels plan, and we are on track to meet that.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Chair, the actuals are higher. They are higher. How can that be achieving the plan? How is she going to achieve this plan by the end of the year?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, the first quarter of 2025 figures I have been provided meet and exceed the reductions that have been targeted.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Chair, let us look at it a different way. The current population is 41.7 million according to Stats Canada, which is 200,000 higher than it was at the end of last year, 500,000 higher than the government's goal. Is the government on track to hit their population target for this year?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, population targets are not simply due to immigration, asylums and so on. There are people who also give birth who are Canadians and people who die.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Chair, the last report provided by the government actually included a number, and that is where I am getting it from: 41,232,000. Does the minister not know this number?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, we are getting there. We are reducing our immigration targets. We have Bill C-2 in front of us to deal with the large surge of asylums—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Chair, would the minister ever alter reports to remove data?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, I do not understand where these questions are coming from. I do not know if it is something these members think—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Chair, I can answer that. The report to Parliament in October had these population numbers, but now they do not, so I am wondering if the minister was trying to hide the data of the population numbers.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, again, I have been in this seat for about three and a half weeks. I think the questions being posed on the other side are either totally misplaced or they are wrong.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Chair, I would like to know if the minister thinks she has any responsibility for the department prior to her time, or is it all just new since she came here?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair. I have been receiving briefings daily. Prime Minister Carney convened—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

This is just a reminder to use titles and not members' proper names.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

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

Mr. Chair, the minister claims she has been on the job for only a couple of weeks, but she was the minister of immigration in Nova Scotia for many years, close to a decade, I think. During that time, the Auditor General, in 2022, found that there was no process to determine labour market needs.

The minister also asked for no cap on the number of people coming into her province. Is this what we can expect from the minister in her tenure as federal immigration minister: no cap and no process to determine labour market needs?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Chair, I am proud of the work that I and the government at that time did in Nova Scotia.

In 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, we were living in different times. Right now we have an economic crisis in the country overall. We need to manage our immigration numbers.

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

Mr. Chair, we were living in different times. It was a Conservative federal government and we had a balanced budget. I am thankful to the minister for acknowledging that. That is wonderful; it warms my heart.

Earlier, the minister said that the economy would have collapsed if it had not been for immigration during COVID. Does she want to stand by that statement?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, immigrants have built this country. Most members of House, unless they are indigenous, are immigrants, either—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member has the floor.

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

Mr. Chair, during COVID, the federal government asked everybody to give up their civil liberties, and it shut down the economy to bend the curve to lower the impact, supposedly, on emergency rooms. Then the government added a hockey stick curve of immigrants to the strain on the emergency rooms. Why did it?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, during COVID, my recollection is, our borders were all closed.

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

Mr. Chair, the minister said earlier that they brought immigrants in because of COVID. All right, there is a lot to unpack here.

There are 500,000 people, as of December 2024, who should have been removed from Canada. How many were removed?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chair, we need to contextualize the numbers when we present them in the House. There are facts.

The public safety minister was here, on Thursday I believe, and he is in charge of answering those questions.