Mr. Speaker, I do not have to say this, but I am going to say it anyway. I am splitting my time with my beautiful seatmate, the member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay.
As always, it is an honour to rise on behalf of Oshawa. Of course, I speak in support of today's Conservative motion.
Oshawa is a proud and welcoming community. Our city has been shaped by generations of newcomers who came to Canada, worked hard, raised families and built strong neighbourhoods. As an example of this, every year in Oshawa we celebrate Fiesta Week, Oshawa's longest-running cultural celebration. It brings together music, dance, food and traditions from around the world that are represented in Oshawa. Families visit different pavilions, share meals and celebrate their heritage, while also celebrating what unites us as Canadians.
Fiesta Week reflects the very best of our country. It shows that immigration, when it is orderly and fair, strengthens our communities. It shows that we can honour our roots while embracing our shared Canadian identity, but for immigration to continue strengthening communities like Oshawa, the system must be credible. It must be sustainable, and it must be fair. Right now, I am afraid it is not.
The cost of the interim federal health program, or IFHP, has more than quadrupled in just four years, rising from $211 million to $896 million. It is projected to reach $1.5 billion by 2029-30.
At the same time, nearly six million Canadians cannot find a family doctor. Emergency rooms like Lakeridge Health in Oshawa are overwhelmed. Seniors are waiting months for procedures. Families are struggling to access mental health supports. In Oshawa, I hear from residents who cannot access timely care. I speak with seniors who are worried about surgery delays. I speak with young families who cannot find a primary care physician, yet, under the interim federal health program, rejected asylum claimants can access benefits that many Canadians do not have free access to. These benefits include pharmaceutical coverage, vision care, prosthetics and assistive devices, home care, nursing homes, physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy and counselling.
Many hard-working Canadians in Oshawa do not have comprehensive drug coverage. They pay out of pocket for glasses. They fundraise for medical equipment. It is fundamentally unfair that rejected asylum claimants can access broader supplementary benefits than the taxpayers who fund the system.
At the House of Commons health committee, Conservatives learned that health care providers are charging taxpayers up to five times the provincial rates for services delivered under the interim federal health program. I will repeat that: It is five times the provincial rate. That is not sustainable, and it undermines confidence in the system.
There is another serious consequence of the government's mismanagement. The massive backlog of asylum claims, up nearly 3,000% since 2015, does not help legitimate asylum seekers. In fact, it harms them. When the system is flooded with claims, including those that are false and ineligible, processing times slow dramatically. Genuine refugees fleeing persecution are left waiting in uncertainty. They cannot properly settle. They cannot fully integrate. They are left in limbo and are at greater risk of falling between the cracks and not getting the help that Canada promised them.
A broken system fails Canadians, and it fails the very people it is supposed to protect. We cannot promise the Canadian dream if we cannot provide an efficient health care system. We cannot invite people to build their future here if we cannot ensure access to doctors, hospitals and basic care.
A dream without delivery is simply an empty promise. The motion simply offers reasonable solutions. It calls on the government to review federal benefits provided to asylum claimants in order to find savings for taxpayers. It calls on the government to review them, to take a look and see what is happening. Perhaps the extra benefits that rejected asylum claimants receive but everyday Canadians do not should be restricted.
I will give an example of that briefly. My sister had a terrible injury. She broke her leg. It was so bad that she expected to take six months to recover, and of course she was signed up for physiotherapy. When she called to get the physiotherapy that was covered, she found out she had to wait six months before she could see someone for that. This is the backlog that we are talking about. She is supposed to be walking again by the time she is supposed to start physiotherapy to learn to walk again, so let us make this fair for the Canadians who fund the system.
The motion calls on the government to review federal benefits provided to asylum claimants in order to find savings for taxpayers. It calls to restrict federal benefits received by rejected asylum claimants to emergency life-saving health care, so there would be no denial of care, as the New Democrats are also trying to claim. We would not be restricting refugee health benefits. We would be restricting them for those who have been rejected and those who perhaps have lied in claiming refugee status, and have been denied. That would ensure that we remain humane while restoring fairness.
The motion calls for transparency through an annual report to Parliament on IFHP spending, particularly on supplementary benefits that Canadian citizens themselves do not receive, and it calls for policies to immediately expel foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes in Canada. The public safety of Canadians depends on it. The motion calls for these policies, and it is very important that public safety be put first.
The motion is about protecting the integrity of a system that has allowed communities like mine in Oshawa to continue to flourish. When immigration is managed responsibly, it strengthens our workforce, enriches our culture and builds vibrant cities. When it is mismanaged, costs spiral, backlogs grow and public confidence erodes. Conservatives believe we can restore balance, and that is all we are looking for. We can protect genuine refugees, and we want to. We can make that happen. We can reduce backlogs so legitimate claims are processed quickly. We can ensure that benefits are fair to taxpayers, and we can make sure that before expanding intake, we have enough jobs, enough housing and the capacity in our health care system to care as we would love to.
That is how we would preserve both compassion and fairness, and I think we can do it. We are simply calling on the government to help us help it preserve compassion and fairness. That is how we would better support communities like mine in Oshawa, Durham Region and across the country, and that is how we ensure that the Canadian dream remains real and attainable for those who come here and for the Canadians who have built this country.
For those reasons, I urge all members of the House to support the motion. I welcome all comments and questions as we continue in this debate.
