Debates of Feb. 26th, 2026

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the immigration minister could not get up in her chair and defend her record. She cannot tell us how many rejected asylum seekers remain in Canada or how many thousands of people came here without a proper security screening, or even give the most basic answers about her job. Her signature bill, Bill C-3, could give citizenship to millions of people abroad with the click of a button, and she has no details and no explanations.

I have a simple question for the minister: How many people, under this piece of legislation, would become Canadian?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this has not been a good week for the Conservative Party of Canada. This has been a week when the Conservatives put in question our constitutional, to say nothing of humanitarian, obligation to look after people who are sick or injured on our territory, including children who are fleeing war zones, including in Ukraine, or Syrian refugees or others. It is a shameful thing that the Conservative Party members have decided, of all the issues, to come back to the House and talk about these things.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister still will not get up in her chair and answer basic questions about her job. Nearly three million temporary visas are nearing expiry without the department having a clear plan, and potentially millions more people are going to become citizens, but nobody over there can stand up and answer a single detailed question about legislation in the House. The only response the Liberals give to this side is to call us bad people for asking questions about the legislation.

Does anybody over there truly believe that the minister deserves her job, or is there somebody on the backbench who can do it better?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, let me just say at the outset that the Minister of Immigration is doing an outstanding job. If we look at the numbers, we see that asylum is down by one-third, the number of temporary foreign workers is down by 50%, and the number of international students is reduced by 60%. We are taking control of our immigration system.

As of last year, 2025, we have removed 22,000 individuals who are ineligible to be in Canada. This is work that we are doing, and we will ensure that Canada remains an open and free society for immigrants and refugees.

The Economy

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Grande Prairie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised us affordable groceries, but he has given us the highest food inflation in the G7. He promised to spend less, yet the deficit is now double and Canadians are now paying more in interest than for health care. He promised homes people could afford, but the prices have never been worse. RBC is now reporting that it is the hardest on young Canadians, who say at the end of the month that there is nothing left to save.

When will the Prime Minister reverse his Liberal inflationary spending, so young Canadians can finally save for a home in this country again?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I know it is Thursday, but I have good news for the House. Canada has received the highest level of foreign direct investment in 18 years. Yes, we should all applaud and rejoice in this House. Even the Conservatives should be happy. I know it is Thursday, but in their hearts I know that they are happy that Canada is attracting investment, that Canada is leading in the world and that Canada is building a country that everyone will want to be in, because on this side of the House, we believe in Canada.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Grande Prairie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, just listen to the minister and his high-flying friends. They think everything is great, but we know that inflation is good news for the wealthy and for the bankers. I can tell them that young Canadians are being the hardest hit by this inflation. TransUnion is reporting that Canadians have now taken on a record-breaking $2.6 trillion in household debt. This debt is attached to mortgages. Canadians are breaking the bank just to keep a roof over their head.

When will the Liberal Prime Minister end his inflationary spending?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives. On this side of the House, we have taken affordability measures. When it was the time not to speak and not to ask questions, but to vote, the Conservatives voted against dental care. They voted against pharmacare, and they voted against the national school food program. They voted against every measure that will help Canadians.

Canadians at home know who stands with them. We have their back. We are going to build this country. We will have the strongest economy in the G7. We believe in Canada.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we have other things to talk about. After 11 years of Liberal government, young adults are at the end of their rope. An RBC survey shows that 64% of them are experiencing financial anxiety and 57% of them do not have a penny left over after paying their bills.

Meanwhile, Canadian household debt is breaking records, primarily because of the cost of housing. Our young people are stuck between crippling taxes and inflationary deficits. They are barely surviving.

When will the government show some common sense?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, common sense would be for the Conservatives to vote for measures that will promote affordability. Where was my colleague when it was time to vote, for example, for the Canadian pharmacare program? Where was my colleague when it was time to vote for the Canadian dental care plan? Where was my colleague when we were voting for subsidized spaces in child care programs or for the national school food program?

On this side of the House, my colleagues know that we will always be there for Canadians. We will support Canadians with affordability measures—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

The hon. member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis.

Seniors

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, where is his minister when it comes to taking care of seniors? At 81, instead of enjoying her retirement, Jeannette Larrivée has to look for work because she is short $500 every month for housing and food. Her pension is gobbled up by inflation. In Lanaudière, the number of job seekers over the age of 75 has risen from 3% to 14%.

The Liberals do not need to tell us where the ministers are. They are never here and they are not taking care of anyone. Who is taking care of seniors?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Finance and National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the seniors watching at home today understand one thing: There is a difference between rhetoric in the House and government action. We have taken action with the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, for example. That is a meaningful measure that will help families across the country, that will help seniors and that will put more money in seniors' pockets. That is precisely the type of measure seniors expect from a responsible government.

I hope my Conservative colleagues will go to their ridings this week and talk about the benefit and how it will help families across the country.

Pensions

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we would like to revisit Cúram, the Liberal Party's success story that is causing problems for 85,000 retirees. Yesterday, the Minister of Jobs and Families said that this is not a big deal for those who are not receiving their old age pension. She said it does not matter because these are not payments that people depend on every month since they are new applicants.

All retirees include their pension in their financial planning. For some, it is their only source of income. What world do the Liberals live in to think that this is not a big deal?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we had an outdated system that dates back to the 1960s or 1970s. It was a system that made a lot of errors and was unreliable, so the government acted responsibly and undertook a major transformation project.

Today, we have a new system that works, that allows people to self-register and that will serve some 7.7 million Canadians. Even today, it is serving Canadians.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say that it works, and that it does not cost a lot. That is exactly why the National Assembly unanimously called for an independent public inquiry. If we relied on the Liberals we would never get a clear picture of Cúram's problems because they do not see a problem.

For them, it is not a problem if 85,000 pensioners receive OAS cheques containing errors. For them, $5 billion in cost overruns is no problem because they are not overruns anyway. Things just cost more than initially planned.

Each of their answers only proves the need for an inquiry. When will they call one?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I will get up again and explain exactly what we are doing here, which is exactly what Canadians expect. They expect modern systems that provide benefits, in a seamless way, that they can actually apply for online. Those are exactly the programs that we are designing for seniors. There are 7.7 million seniors already on the new system. There are two more benefit plans to go: employment insurance and CPP.

We are confident that Canadians know this is exactly what they need for the next generation.

Public Services and Procurement

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, all the parties in Quebec City want this government to stop squandering Quebeckers' money. As proven by Phoenix, ArriveCAN and Cúram, every time Ottawa touches IT, it turns into a scandal. The Liberals have wasted more than $10 billion in cost overruns on those three projects alone.

Meanwhile, the folks in Quebec City are wondering whether there is enough money to continue funding our children's cultural outings at school. Quebec is unanimous. Quebec is fed up.

When will there be an independent public inquiry into federal IT contracts?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I think the question is about old age security, so I will stick to that program. In fact, that 60-year-old program, which was fraught with problems, was something the Government of Canada sought to modernize because Canadians now expect to be able to apply for their benefits online and have more control over how they apply for their benefits. In fact, 7.7 million Canadians have transitioned to this new program.

For some particular cases with difficult information, we have seen some delays, and as that member knows, we are seeing a decline in—

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

The hon. member for Parkland.

The Economy

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the situation out there is dire. After 11 years of Liberal inflation, housing unaffordability and job insecurity, Canadians, particularly young Canadians, are facing the consequences.

We used to take pride in this country when we said that the next generation would be better off than the one before, but for young Canadians today, that just is not the case. Under the Liberals, the well-off are better off than ever before, but people struggling to get ahead are falling further and further behind.

When will the Liberals finally get off the backs of Canadians for a change?

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretaries of State for Labour]

Mr. Speaker, the government is squarely focused on opportunity. Opportunity means good job opportunities and affordable homes.

As members might know, Bill C-4, our bill, is in front of the Senate right now, and it would eliminate GST for first-time homebuyers on homes up to $1 million. We have a bill in front of the House right now, Bill C-20, for Build Canada Homes, because we are focused on making sure that this generation of Canadians, millennials in particular, can get into the housing market and have an affordable home to build.

The Conservatives seem to want to stall our housing agenda every step of the way. They should get on board.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Liberal spin cannot avoid the facts. Under the Prime Minister, the rich are getting richer while working Canadians are falling further and further behind. Liberal inflation has made the bankers rich, but the cost of food, vehicles and housing is out of reach. Young people are facing record-high unemployment, and even those who are lucky enough to have a job cannot even afford to pay their bills, let alone save for the million-dollar homes the Liberals are talking about.

We need to restore jobs with powerful paycheques to ensure that the next generation can be better off. Conservatives are fighting for that future. When are the Liberals going to get on board?

[Leslie Church, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretaries of State for Labour]

Mr. Speaker, what Canadians are tired of is rhetoric that says that Canada is broken and that we are not getting ahead.

Canadians elected a government with a plan that is cutting taxes for 22 million Canadians, delivering a groceries and essentials benefit to put much-needed money back in the pockets of many Canadian families, and is committed to affordable child care, saving families upwards of $10,000 a year. Those are measurable plans to make life better and more affordable for Canadians.

We are proud of that. I wish the Conservatives would stand with us.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, all five of my children are married and raising a family of their own. Like so many young Canadians, they are working hard just trying not fall into debt. Home repairs, music lessons, cadet uniforms, gas to drive kids to activities, and the everyday cost of raising a family all add up. Saving is nearly impossible right now, and 64% of millennials are worried about their future. Parents are doing everything right yet still falling behind.

When will the government lower costs so Canadian families can stop worrying about just staying afloat and start planning for their future again?