Debates of Feb. 24th, 2026

Opposition Motion—Interim Federal Health Program

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the hon. member for Winnipeg North for being the seconder to Bill C-239, and for his support and inspiration to me as I brought this forward.

I am hearing a lot of resentment from the opposition, particularly the Conservative Party. Conservatives think they believe in accountability, but they do not. In fact, if they really believed in accountability in health care and wanted to improve health care for Canadians, they would support Bill C-239. It is a very basic bill that would open up the Canada Health Act and introduce a sixth pillar, for provincial governments to be responsible so that Canadians' dollars are well spent on Canadians for their health care and for their well-being.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with some mixed emotions about what motivated the Conservative Party to bring forward the motion before us. It is interesting that a couple of the Conservatives have tried to downplay the anger, catering to the far right, to look at ways to raise money on such an important issue.

I take the immigration file very personally. For over 30 years, I have been working in the immigration area in many different ways, and never before have I seen a mainstream political party, well mainstream no more, take actions that I would suggest may be good for the far right but are not good for Canada. I do not say that lightly.

After the Conservatives asked questions yesterday, what did they do? They sent out information in the form of an email to generate funds to build a data bank. I will quote from the fundraising letter they sent out on this particular issue. It says, referring to what we are talking about today:

The cost of these perks is expected to continue to grow to $1.5 BILLION by the year 2030!

That's unfair, and it must CHANGE.

That's why TOMORROW Conservatives are putting forward a real plan for change, a plan that will take care of our health care and our taxpayers. Add your name to support our fight before it's too late.

This is the type of email trash, based on misinformation, being circulated by the Conservative Party.

[An hon. member]

Oh, it's factual.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, no, it is not factual.

They are saying that the cost is going to continue to grow to $1.5 billion by the year 2030. The purpose of this email is to generate their data bank of rage and more money for the coffers of the Conservative Party of Canada. That is the purpose of this debate, and of the email that they circulated to thousands of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. That is what we see today with the far right Conservative Party. This is not the same party of the Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell or Joe Clark eras. It is far from that.

I have posed this question to members opposite: What is the purpose of saying $1.5 billion by 2030, when they know full well that it is just not true? Canada voted for a new government back in April of last year, and the Prime Minister brought forward Bill C-2, which would dramatically reduce the number of asylum seekers. The Conservatives know that. That was back in June of last year, shortly after the federal election. The Conservative Party filibustered the legislation, and we had to come up with a compromise, which led to Bill C-12. That is still in the Senate, as opposed to being passed. It deals, in good part, with the concerns that Canadians have with asylum seekers. That is one action the Prime Minister and the government have taken.

Let us look at the 2025 budget. In that budget, we put in a copay system, and refugees have to pay a portion. This is something that will save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. We have been able to work that through. There are two major initiatives that have been taken by the government, by the new Prime Minister.

On the one hand, the Conservatives filibuster. On the other hand, they ignore, and then they pump out material to try to give a false impression, telling Canadians something that is just not true.

When the Parliamentary Budget Officer says $1.5 billion, that is not taking Bill C-12 or the copay system into consideration. The Conservative members who stand up, and they have been standing up, know full well that is the case, but that has not prevented them from talking about it, even though they know it is not true.

Why do the Conservatives do that? They do that for the same reason they like to use messages like “fake”, “bogus” and “rejected”. These are all terms they like to use.

If we take a look at the social media they post, we will see that its primary purpose is to cater to a very small group of individuals who are supporting the Conservative right so they can keep that group happy and, at the same time, generate money for their coffers. It is at a great expense, because there are many red Tories, progressive Tories and Liberals, Canadians who are living in Conservative ridings, who will see through the misinformation that is constantly being put out by the Conservative Party. These Canadians will realize that our Prime Minister and the government have taken several actions to address the issue while demonstrating at the same time, as other countries around the world have, that there is a need for governments to be able to support refugees.

Genuine, bona fide refugees come to Canada every year, as they do to other nations around the world. The Conservatives talk about health care as if the health care system is threatened because the government, today and in the past, has supported refugees. I used to be a health care critic in the province of Manitoba many years ago. One of the greatest threats to health care is not just money; it is how to manage the changes necessary to provide quality health care into the future, particularly for Manitobans.

Ottawa provides a great deal of tax dollars to provinces as health transfers. We also give equalization payments. We have also looked at ways in which we can expand all forms of health care, whether it is for personal care or mental health issues. Never before has a government invested more in health care than we have with this government.

Yes, people are concerned about health care. As a national government, we will continue to work with our stakeholders in provinces and territories to support where we can, but the Conservatives do a disservice to the whole immigration, citizenship and refugee file when they start to pick and choose and to distort reality to generate money for their political party. It feeds into the fact that the Conservative Party of today is more interested in its own political party than it is in the interests of Canadians.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague spoke about the investments, as he calls them, that the Liberal government has put into health care.

There is a Somali woman who was in a polygamous marriage and lied to get into Canada. She won another chance to stay. There is Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, a father who, along with his son, was granted refugee status. They will stand trial on terrorism charges for an alleged Toronto plot. An admitted Mexican hit man who fled the U.S. for Canada made a refugee claim. There are also 14 extortion subjects who have claimed refugee status.

Of the investments the Liberals say they are making in health care, exactly how much should go towards health care for these individuals?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, for generations, governments of Canada and prime ministers, both Progressive Conservatives and Liberals over the decades, have recognized the importance of refugees to our nation and to the world and of Canada's contributions. We witnessed all of those administrations recognize the need to provide support, which they did. I suspect that if we went through the decades of support for refugees, we would find cases like the ones the member brought forward. Fortunately, we have a process to ensure the interests of Canadians are looked after as a whole.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we know that 40% of asylum seekers have settled in Quebec, while Quebec makes up only 22% of the population.

Does my colleague not think that we should try to find a way to better way to distribute asylum seekers across the country or at least properly compensate Quebec?

We know that, in 2024, Quebec had a $700-million shortfall for which it did not receive compensation. What does my colleague think of this?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the provinces do have their first ministerial conferences. I think the Province of Quebec can work with other provinces. The federal government has provided support to and has encouraged provinces. All provinces should be taking their fair share.

I would like to think that one of the nice things about being in a federal state is that there is a high sense of co-operation. I know Manitoba has reached out in the past to assist with asylum seekers. We need all provinces to be able to contribute more equally in that fashion. We need premiers, prime ministers, MLAs and members of Parliament working together, recognizing that this should be a shared responsibility within the federation.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, similar issues have come up within the riding of Waterloo, where people recognize that having a federally funded or publicly funded health care system is important. People are also noticing that provinces are oftentimes dabbling with the idea of a two-tier health care system.

There seems to be much recognition that asylum claimants are a different group of people in that they are usually very vulnerable, coming from places in the world where they will not be safe, hence why we have an asylum system.

I do believe that the road the Conservatives are travelling is scary, is at the risk of misrepresentation and is really about dividing Canadians on an important issue. A former cabinet minister and Conservative member did say that anger is an emotion, not a substitute for strategic policy.

I would like to hear from the member about any constructive feedback to ensure that the system does work for Canadians and that Canada takes its international—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I would answer the question by looking at what has taken place over the last nine or 10 months since Canada elected a new government and a new Prime Minister. We have seen the Prime Minister and the government bring in a copay system, for example. This is something I believe will make a positive difference. It will save a great deal of money.

The Conservatives will try to talk about a two-tier system, meaning that refugees get a premium or deluxe program and that Canadians do not get that type of program. There is a lot of misinformation with respect to that. I ask members to take a look at the copay system and get a better—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

Resuming debate, the hon. Leader of the Opposition has the floor.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, for a century and a half, Canada had the best immigration system in the world. Many hard-working, law-abiding people were invited to come here in an orderly fashion. Most of them quickly found jobs, paid taxes, followed the rules, raised families and integrated into our way of life here in Canada to become real, genuine Canadians.

About four years ago, for reasons unknown, this Liberal government decided to overturn Canada's immigration system, to destroy the world's best immigration system. It did so by increasing population growth by 200%, adding 1.2 million people per year. Meanwhile, only 200,000 homes were built. The system is at a breaking point. The health care system and the housing and labour markets are now under unprecedented strain, and Canadians are paying the price.

It is important to realize that these problems were created by the Liberals, not by immigrants or by people. However, people are the ones suffering the consequences. Six million Canadians do not have access to a family doctor. The wait time to see a specialist is now 30 weeks. Last year, patients in Canada were waiting for 1.4 million procedures.

This Liberal Prime Minister promised that he would change things, but that was just an illusion. Now the results of his work are showing. Under this Liberal government and this Prime Minister, the cost of the interim federal health program has skyrocketed by 1,000%, from $66 million to $900 million. It is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2030.

Last year, the number of asylum claims increased by 2,900%. That is an almost 3,000% increase in the number of asylum seekers in Canada, and 86% of failed asylum seekers remain in Canada, even though they have been rejected by the system. We are talking about 86% of rejected claimants staying here. There are 500,000 people here illegally. Enough is enough. The Conservatives want to take back control. They no longer want to give deluxe benefits that help people who are here illegally more than they help Canadians, the people who pay the bills.

Finally, we want to put an end to the system that gives lenient sentences to foreign criminals in order to allow them to stay here. We will put an end to the two-tiered system. We propose limiting benefits for asylum seekers, especially benefits that go beyond life-saving measures. We must cut costs and eliminate lenient sentences for foreign criminals. That is what we are proposing in our motion to restore the best immigration system here in Canada.

For over a century and a half, Canada had the best immigration system in the world. People came from all around the world. They worked hard, started families, launched businesses, contributed, paid into the system, integrated into our way of life and became proud Canadians.

About four years ago, for reasons still unknown, the Liberal government decided to overturn the entire system of immigration. The Liberals tripled population growth. They opened the floodgates. They allowed rich multinational corporations to profit by bringing in low-wage labour that would drive down jobs for Canadians and drive up rent for the people in our country.

The current Liberal Prime Minister claimed he would change things, but it was all an illusion. Things are getting worse. Six million Canadians now cannot find a family doctor as the system has been overloaded with excess population growth not matched by new doctors. Wait times to see a specialist have hit 30 weeks. Patients in Canada were waiting for 1.4 million procedures last year. More than 100,000 Canadians have died on a wait-list since 2018, roughly the time when this radical immigration experiment began. Twenty per cent of Canadians are stuck waiting over a year for elective surgeries, the most out of 10 peer countries.

Meanwhile, the government provides deluxe benefits that are not available to Canadian taxpayers. It gives those benefits to rejected asylum claimants. To be clear, these are things like vision care, physiotherapy, home care and speech therapy. Things not covered by the public plans of lifelong taxpayers are then being provided to people who are here illegally or have been refused because they made false asylum claims. The cost of the program that provides these benefits has gone up 1,000% under the current Liberal government, from $66 million to about $1 billion, and it is expected to run to $1.5 billion by 2030.

The backlog of asylum claims has exploded by 3,000% under the Liberal government. Three hundred thousand cases were active as of last December under the Liberal Prime Minister. Eighty-six per cent of rejected refugee claimants are still here in Canada. Over two million people's stays are expired or will soon be expired, and the Prime Minister has no plan with respect to how he is going to return them to their country of origin. The Liberals oversaw the removal of only 22,000 people last year. Again, we have two million refugees whose stay here will expire, and the Liberal government of this Prime Minister was able to remove only 22,000, barely a tiny fraction.

Even rejected asylum claimants get access to these deluxe taxpayer-funded benefits, and when Conservatives moved a motion at the committee to study this problem, Liberals filibustered and blocked it. It is more obstruction from a Liberal Prime Minister who does not want to change anything.

Canadians have big hearts, but they expect to be treated fairly, and they expect that they should get at least as good, if not better, services than those people who are here illegally, nor do Canadians accept the idea that Liberal-appointed judges give sentence discounts to foreign nationals who commit crimes while visiting this country. It is insane that these sentencing discounts are deliberately designed to prevent foreign nationals from being deported from this country after they commit crimes. The government should have a deliberate policy of deporting foreign criminals who are visiting our country and breaking our laws. We do not need lawbreakers. We need good, law-abiding Canadians.

To that effect, Conservatives moved a motion today for a full review of the federal benefits provided to asylum claimants, in order to find savings for taxpayers; to restrict benefits received by rejected asylum claimants to life-saving benefits, and nothing more; to provide transparency on the spending for these programs through regular reports to Parliament; and to pass policies into law that would immediately expel foreign nationals who are visiting our country and commit crime while they are here.

We call for no more sentencing discounts and no more two-tiered system. We need a system that treats everybody fairly. We are a compassionate country, but we are a country based on law and a country with an affordability crisis. We are a country with health care wait times out of control. Now is the time to work to change all of that.

Let us once again put our people first and ensure that they have affordable homes and food, safe streets to live on and health care that cares for them when they need it. That is a common-sense approach. We call on all members of Parliament to put aside their differences and support this common-sense motion. Let us bring back the greatest immigration system in the world.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to put a question directly to the hon. leader of the official opposition. As an Albertan who, I know, is also a proud Canadian, would he let Canadians know where he will stand if there is a referendum on Alberta separation?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will stand for a united Canada.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)]

Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for the hon. member's service, but is the hon. member trying to save his failing leadership by attacking the most vulnerable in our society and by appealing to the radical right in his party?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

No, Mr. Speaker, and this is the old Liberal trick. When they mess up the system, destroy people's lives and turn the country upside down, Liberals immediately go on the attack. They start calling patriotic, honourable Canadians horrible names, anybody who disagrees with them or who is upset that they destroyed the immigration system, by their own admission, by the way. Instead of holding themselves accountable and firing the minister who did it, they promoted him to justice minister. It is no wonder we have a crime wave.

They then look out at all the millions of Canadians, the six million Canadians who cannot get a doctor or the 100,000 families who have lost a loved one on a waiting list, and call them horrible names because of the mistakes that the Liberal government made. It is disgusting.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative motion seems to suggest that, as soon as an asylum seeker is convicted of a serious crime, they should be deported. First, that is already the law. Second, does that mean that somebody who is convicted of a serious crime should not serve their sentence and should instead be deported to a country where it is not certain that they will serve their sentence?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, they should serve their time in prison. After that, they should be deported if they are not a citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. These criminals are doing neither. They are not being sentenced and they are not being deported either. The Liberal system is allowing these foreign criminals to stay in Canada and harass communities. Quite frankly, it is immigrant communities themselves that are the main victims of these crimes.

I will say that in English. Right now, by keeping foreign criminals here and not allowing them to even serve a sentence in Canada, the biggest victims are immigrant communities who then have to live with the hell and the danger that is unfolding through extortion, theft and other crimes in our streets.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, an incredible point was just made, and for the first time today in all this debate. Those who are suffering are the immigrant communities, whether it is the six million Canadians who are without doctors or the incredible crime rates and extortion rates being perpetuated in our immigrant communities.

I would like to ask our hon. colleague for the stories he has heard and why it is so important that we stand up for some of the most vulnerable communities.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals really should be ashamed, of course, of their really disgusting tactics over here today, pretending that they care about the immigrant communities they have put in such danger. Is it compassionate that in the city of Brampton, the municipality found there were 26 international students living in one basement? Is it compassionate that the same extortionists who have committed crime after crime are allowed to stay in our country and on our streets and terrorize communities like Brampton and Surrey and northeast Calgary? Is it compassionate that an entire generation cannot find a home, that six million Canadians are without a family doctor or that 100,000 have died on waiting lists since this radical experiment with open borders happened under the Liberal government?

Instead of trying to disparage and defame Canadians who are speaking out to restore our system, the Liberal Party should actually take personal accountability for the chaos it has unleashed.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines xenophobia as “the irrational fear or dislike of people from different countries or cultures, often resulting in discrimination and social exclusion.”

Is the hon. member trying to fuel the same sort of fascist rhetoric we are seeing in the south? I know the Liberals are trying to do that through Bill C-12, kicking out migrants and violating international law.

Does my colleague agree with me that what he is doing is irresponsible and places—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition can give a very brief response.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, no, what is irresponsible is the radical open borders experiment that the Liberals have brought to this country, which has overwhelmed housing, health care and job markets. What is irresponsible is leaving six million Canadians without a family doctor and allowing thousands of people to die on waiting lists because the system is overwhelmed. That is irresponsible.

We want to restore the country we love so it is open to everybody and treats everyone fairly.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I wish we were here today to talk about health care. Instead, we have to talk about health care fraud. The fraud is undeniable. It is unfair, and the Liberals could stop it by voting for our motion today. For the Canadians watching at home, let me please explain.

Currently, if someone declares themselves a refugee to Canada, they get Cadillac health benefits that tax-paying, law-abiding seniors do not get. They get vision care, pharmacare, dental care, physiotherapy, home care, etc. If, after years of waiting for their refugee claim to be denied, it is denied, they continue to get these Cadillac benefits while they spend years making appeals. If their appeals are denied, they continue to get these Cadillac benefits waiting for their deportation to be scheduled. If they fail to show up for their deportation, and currently the government has lost 32,000 people who have criminally failed to show up for their deportations, they continue to get these benefits, even while they are on the run from the law.

Yes, they get these bonus benefits that tax-paying seniors do not get and, yes, they get them pretty much indefinitely, but it is also the case that they get better basic hospital care than Canadians.

At the health committee, we heard testimony from doctors who came and said that they and their colleagues are charging five times the rate to the federal government that they would charge to the provincial government for the same service. In Alberta, if a senior citizen needs a hip replacement, the surgeon charges $1,000 to do it. That is a great deal, and I thank the orthopaedic surgeons. Someone could not walk and now they can.

However, if someone else comes in with a Blue Cross refugee card backstopped by the federal government, the surgeon can charge $5,000 for the same procedure for that failed refugee. If members do not believe me, I invite all of them who are on their phones to google “Billing for out-of-country patients, Alberta Medical Association”. They can see that recommendation in black and white.

Let me ask members a question. If a surgeon had a $1,000 case on their wait-list and a $5,000 case on their wait-list, might they not be tempted to do one before the other? I love orthopaedic surgeons. They are good guys, but they are not saints. The Liberals have constructed a literal two-tier health care system, while they fearmonger about us doing something like that. In Ontario, the medical association currently recommends charging three times the rate to the federal government as they would for a Canadian, tax-paying senior. I had to use my own physician login to get that information on its website. That one cannot be googled.

Obviously, a system designed this way is ripe for abuse, and it is being abused. For instance, just this past December, Global News reported that 14 men claimed refugee status only after the B.C. extortion task force opened an investigation into them. That is not how actual refugees behave. That is how criminal extortionists behave once they are caught. This is beyond unreasonable. This is beyond unfair. Literal criminals are falsely claiming asylum to get Cadillac health benefits for years. It would be the easiest thing in the world for the Liberals to vote with our common-sense motion to stop this today.

I love Canada and I love that Canada is a place that welcomes refugees, desperate individuals who are legitimately fleeing extraordinary hardship like war, famine, genocide or religious persecution. In fact, I would not be in Canada if Canada did not welcome refugees, because I am the son of a refugee. My grandfather brought my mother here in 1967, fleeing persecution and hunger in Communist Yugoslavia. I am not the only MP on this side of the House with that sort of family history. We just heard from the Leader of the Opposition that his wife similarly fled a communist regime as a young girl, and therefore his children, like me, are first-generation Canadians.

We want to protect Canada's ability to help such people by saying no to the fraudsters and the criminals who are taking advantage of them.

Liberal mismanagement on this file has now prompted the Liberals to worsen health care for legitimate refugees. I am dismayed and disheartened that their solution to this issue is to introduce a copay for all refugees. That means that a six-year-old Ukrainian girl who steps on a land mine, who needs a prosthetic limb once she makes it to Canada, will have to pay 30% of the cost. She does not have that money to pay for that limb. That is insane. That is not a solution to any problem and certainly not the problem at hand. Conservatives will pay for that little girl's prosthetic limb 11 times out of 10. We will also send home the criminals who are abusing the system meant to help her.

Canadians expect compassion and discretion from their government. The Liberals today are providing neither.

The overall problem, the underlying problem, is the insane backlog and processing delays that Liberal mismanagement has introduced to the system. When Stephen Harper left office, there were 400,000 outstanding immigration files. I think Stephen Harper would agree with me that it was unacceptable. After 10 years of Liberal mismanagement, there are now 2.1 million outstanding immigration files, five times as many. This has passed being unacceptable. This has departed into the realm of the absurd. I know this can be fixed, and I know how to fix it.

I called my grandfather last night to make sure I had my facts straight. My whole life, I grew up hearing about my family's escape from Communism. He confirmed the story my late grandmother always told. After they crossed the border, they went to the nearest police station in the nearest city, Trieste in Italy. The police detained my grandfather for three days, separately from my grandmother who stayed with the children. They were treated with compassion and dignity. They were interrogated for three straight days to make sure they were not Communist spies, with questions like, “Were you in the military? Where did you serve? What years? Did you join the Communist Party? Are you a Communist? Where were you born? What is your daughter's middle name?” etc.

After three days, their stories were cross-referenced. They checked out completely and they were accepted to a refugee camp. Then, like college applicants, they waited to be accepted to a different country. They received offers from Australia, the United States and Canada. Thank God they chose Canada. They got on a boat, their papers were stamped at the port in Montreal, and that was it. That was the whole process: It was three days of interrogation by a NATO ally, and five months later, they were new Canadians.

They were still using telegrams in 1967. How is it that with all the new technological tools available such as facial recognition and AI document processing, the process now takes eight times longer and obviously does not have the integrity it used to have?

This is the problem underlying the health care fraud that our motion seeks to address today. We cannot fix the underlying problem. The bad news is that to fix the underlying problem would require an immigration minister who knows what they are doing. When I asked the current immigration minister at committee to explain the process as it currently exists, she could not even do that. I had to read her own website to her, for her to understand that failed refugee applicants still get these supplementary benefits. If she were my medical student, she would have failed her clinical rotation, but she has a position of authority much higher than a mere medical student. She is in the Prime Minister's cabinet. We can only remark that this calls the Prime Minister's judgment into question. I fear it will take a Conservative government with a new immigration minister to fix the fundamental underlying problem.

In the meantime, the Liberals could join with us to acknowledge and repair this glaring billion-dollar criminal fraud that is putting our health care system at risk. They could vote for our common-sense motion to stop giving Cadillac benefits to fake refugees, and I urge them to do so.