Debates of March 24th, 2026

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, as I said a couple of times already this morning, since 2025, 100% of discrepancies that were referred by the educational institutions to IRCC received follow-ups. The high-risk ones were fully investigated. The results are clear. We welcome the recommendation. We will continue to improve our systems, but the Auditor General made it clear that we had already started to implement all of those prior to her commencing the report.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we get it. They got follow-up emails, but even her Liberal colleagues are telling the CBC that she is not fit for the job. However, none of that seems to matter to the Liberal Prime Minister, because this is how it works in Liberal Ottawa. Step one is someone fails at their job. Step two is they get a promotion. Step three is they start the cycle again. That is what happened to the last immigration minister, who is the culture minister, and the one before that, who is the Attorney General. Based on how it all works here, I have a different question for the Prime Minister: When is he giving the current immigration minister her next promotion?

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

Mr. Speaker, step one is they have a 25-point lead in the polls. Step two is we have an election. Step three is a member loses his seat. Why is the Leader of the Opposition still in his seat?

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

Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal Prime Minister, the Liberals' immigration crisis is worse than ever before. They are giving sweetheart sentences to non-citizen sexual assaulters instead of deporting them. Bogus asylum claimants are getting better health care than Canadians, and there are over 150,000 cases of student permit fraud. There are millions of non-citizens with no legal reason to be in Canada, but there is no accountability.

Three of the most incompetent and destructive immigration ministers in Canadian history are still in cabinet. Why?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected this government last year because they know that it has a plan. Our plan has results. It is not based on a script, as happens on the other side. Over the last year we have reduced temporary residents by more than half. We brought down the asylum seeker numbers by more than a third. We have refocused economic immigration like it has never been done before. Canadians can see that this government is focused and has a plan.

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

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the plan. There were 150,000 cases of student permit fraud under the Liberal Prime Minister. They just bought an entire hotel for asylum claimants, with tax dollars. Bogus asylum claimants are getting better health care than Canadian seniors who have paid their whole life into the system, yet the immigration minister still has her job. Why?

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

Mr. Speaker, here they go again. The immigration minister has brought a situation under control, a situation in which, last year, Canada's population actually declined. Canada's immigration system is admired, as our country is, the world over. The immigration minister is executing on a clear plan to bring down temporary resident numbers in this country. Shame on the member for picking on Ukrainian war refugees for coming to this country and getting treated.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the Auditor General, tens of thousands of people entered the country and stayed here without proper screening, even though many cases had already been flagged.

The government is unable to say which international students are following the rules, which ones have left the country and which ones remain here illegally. In other words, the Liberals opened the door, but they no longer control who is in the country. It is time for the Prime Minister to take responsibility for promoting the immigration ministers who created this chaos.

When will he fire the three worst immigration ministers?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, temporary status is exactly that: temporary. This is nothing new. Under our plan, Canada has set clear targets for temporary residents and extensions. We are sticking to our plan, but our expectation is clear: When a permit expires, the permit holder must leave. We will maintain our targets and enforce our rules.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government has completely lost control of immigration over the last 10 years. The proof came yesterday in the Auditor General's report, which confirms that 150,000 of the people who applied for a student visa had been flagged as high-risk.

The government is only able to verify 4,000 cases. The rest have been forgotten, lost in the system. Right now, the Liberals cannot even say who has remained in the country without a permit.

When will the Prime Minister fire his Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and the two former immigration ministers for incompetence?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, while we were cutting immigration numbers, the Leader of the Opposition was travelling the length and breadth of the country promising visas to anyone and everyone. It is ridiculous.

We do not need an Auditor General to verify that the Leader of the Opposition and many of his MPs are incompetent. It is absolutely ridiculous. It is proof of the opposition’s irresponsibility. I think they should be ashamed of this situation. One simply has to watch the videos on Twitter.

[Gabriel Hardy, Conservative, Montmorency—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the Auditor General, the immigration system for international students is completely out of control.

In just one year, as many as 150,000 fraudulent international student applications may have been submitted, and less than 3% were investigated by the government. This is not complicated: The Liberals have completely lost control of immigration, but they continue to issue permits as though nothing is wrong. Quebeckers want an immigration system that respects the intake and integration capacity of our Quebec nation.

Can the Prime Minister explain why he is keeping ministers who are doing more harm than good?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions]

Mr. Speaker, our government's plan is working. Our plan is to maintain control over immigration, with the knowledge that Canadians trust us to do so. We were able to reduce immigration levels. For the first time in nearly 50 years, we have managed to slow population growth in Canada.

We will also ensure that we reach an understanding with the Government of Quebec. In fact, the lieutenant reached an agreement with the Government of Quebec last week, because we must be able to not only keep immigration under control, but also support businesses that are facing labour shortages.

Justice

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, three provinces are joining Quebec in calling for more power over judicial appointments. Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan all want superior court judges to be chosen from their own list of candidates. They also want to have a say in who sits on the Supreme Court. Quebec and the provinces are fed up with seeing the Prime Minister's inner circle meddle in judicial appointments to reward Liberals.

Will this government finally listen to their demands?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

It is very important to understand that we have a process that is working today. We receive recommendations from an independent committee, and we have opportunities to discuss proposals with my provincial and territorial counterparts. This process is working and there is no need to change it. However, if my counterparts want to participate in the process, all they have to do is make a call. It is as simple as that.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec and three provinces want to select their own judges because Ottawa's process has a red tinge.

People will remember the “Liberalist”, the partisan tool that helped Liberals identify other Liberals to appoint. Among the judges who had been political party donors, 76% were Liberals. In 2019, five of the six judges appointed in New Brunswick were a Liberal minister's neighbour, the wife of his brother-in-law, and three donors.

Will the government include Quebec and interested provinces in an impartial process?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, we currently have an independent process that works and that benefits from recommendations from the legal affairs committee. It is important to ensure that every candidate is able to participate in the judicial system.

We are going to continue to work with provinces and territories to take their feedback into the process and make talented appointments. Regardless of the political history of the candidate, we want the best people for the job, and that is what the process is providing.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal incompetence in our immigration system keeps getting worse. Yesterday, the Auditor General revealed widespread fraud in the Liberals' international student program. Even worse, of the 150,000 suspected fraud cases, the department reviewed less than 3% of them. This is only part of the Liberal immigration mess.

Did the Liberal Prime Minister fix this? Not at all. Besides keeping his terrible minister in place, he promoted the last two incompetent ministers. They are raining down destruction as his justice minister and culture minister. Why are three of the most incompetent and destructive immigration ministers still in his cabinet?

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

Mr. Speaker, that question has been asked several times and answered several times.

I wonder if that member, who was growing up dreaming of being in the Parliament of Canada, is now having a reckoning with the fact that he is being handed some question by a 24-year-old in the leader's office and is being required to stand up in the House of Commons and read it. That is what is going on here.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, unlike that member, I do not work for the PMO.

The truth is that the immigration minister is so incompetent that her own Liberal colleagues told CBC that she was not fit for the job. The mess created by the previous two is self-evident, yet Liberals are pushing ahead with hundreds of thousands of new foreign work permits with no plans to remove the millions of expiring foreign visa holders who remain in Canada. All while Canadian youth face 14% unemployment rates and non-permanent residents outnumber unemployed Canadians. This insanity has to stop.

Why are three of the most incompetent and destructive immigration ministers in Canadian history still in his cabinet?

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

Mr. Speaker, we quite literally just passed a bill, despite the obstruction of the Conservatives, that permits us to reduce the number of asylum seekers in Canada, just as we reduced the temporary population of Canada for the first time ever last year.

I would repeat to this member that I work for the people of Canada. He does not work for the Leader of the Opposition. He should stand up and read his own question, instead of the questions coming from 24-year-olds in the Leader of the Opposition's office.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, 153,000 student visa cases were flagged for fraud, with less than 3% probed, and 92% of fraudsters were waved through for shots at work permits, residency and asylum. The Auditor General has exposed an immigration system so broken it cannot enforce its own rules. However, instead of fixing it, the Liberals are going to issue even more permits. Even Liberals say the immigration minister has to go. It is well past time to clean house.

Why is the Prime Minister still keeping not one, not two, but three failed immigration ministers in his cabinet?

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

Mr. Speaker, despite the conversation today about the impacts of immigration on youth unemployment, I will remind opposition members that even though they enjoy the benefits of something like the Canada summer jobs program, and they go out and meet those students, they vote against those programs time and time again.

It is a bit fraudulent, I would say, to meet youth in their ridings and celebrate that opportunity while voting against that very program in the House of Commons.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Francis Scarpaleggia]

There are a lot of epithets going around today, and I think we should maybe refrain from some of them.

The hon. member for Beauce.