House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 34% of the vote.
Citizenship and Immigration November 6th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, human trafficking victims in Canada never stopped getting health care. This government's policy is that they will never lose that right.
What is really scandalous, and the NDP should apologize for this, is that for two days this week, New Democrats doggedly claimed that refugees in Canada were not receiving health care.
Today they have acknowledged their mistake and are now talking about asylum seekers. The fact is that they have no credibility on this issue.
Citizenship and Immigration November 6th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, let us talk about what is really going on.
Refugees, including children, are receiving and have always received health care. With our announcement yesterday, we complied with the court's decision. Children and pregnant women will continue to receive health care.
What is really scandalous and even cruel is the NDP's insistence that people facing deportation by Canadian court order should get health care.
Does the NDP have any respect at all for our justice system's decisions?
Citizenship and Immigration November 6th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, what is actually shameful here is the series of NDP statements this week. They claim that refugees are not receiving health care. That was never the case and it will never be the case with this government. The NDP must stop saying otherwise and misleading the public.
We are proud of the health care we offer to refugees, and we are determined to protect taxpayers' interests. That is why we are going to appeal and why we will continue to ask the NDP why it insists on providing health care to those who are subject to removal according to—
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, I just provided some details about this case to my colleagues across the way. The legal process for completing an adoption is not over yet in this case. It has nothing to do with Ebola. Under the Privacy Act, I am prohibited from discussing this case in more detail.
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health and all of us on this side have been saying, we will do whatever is required to protect public health in our country, and to protect the health and safety of Canadians. That is why many months ago we began discouraging Canadians from travelling to Ebola infected countries, because of the potential risk to them and to Canada.
We are simply being consistent here. We are discouraging new travellers from coming from Ebola infected countries, and we will continue to take these precautionary measures to ensure the safety and health of Canadians.
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, there is no attack on refugees. From this government, there has been unparalleled generosity to refugees and full health care every step of the way.
What we have had from the other side, on the other hand, is disinformation. What we are hearing from the member opposite is that a claimant who was not found to be a refugee, who was not persecuted, who is heading back to his or her country of origin should receive better health care than Canadians actually receive. That is not generosity, and that certainly does not uphold another vital Canadian value, which is the rule of law.
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, our government's commitment, Canada's commitment, to the most vulnerable remains clear. We continue to resettle one in ten refugees worldwide who find a new home every year. Our commitment to maternal, newborn and children's health, and the leadership of this Prime Minister is second to none, and second to none in history.
What remains scandalous is that the member's party, and it is only the NDP this week, is asking for generous health care, health care that goes beyond what Canadians receive, not to go to refugees, not to go to protected persons, not to go to successful claimants, but to go to those who betrayed Canada's trust, who betrayed the generosity of Canada.
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, refugee health care has been in place all along. It remains in place. Even the member for Markham—Unionville gets that, as he said yesterday.
The Federal Court gets that, if the hon. member would read its decision. It understands that the issues it was pronouncing upon relate to claimants, not to those refugees whose claims have been found to be legitimate and have refugee status.
The hon. member should stand in the House, acknowledge that he has been misleading Canadians and acknowledge that he is asking for better health care for fraudulent claimants, for failed claimants and for those who are about to leave Canada. We do not think that is appropriate.
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
There he goes again, Mr. Speaker.
Does the member opposite have any respect either for Canadians or for the English language, because there is no case when refugees, those determined to be so by our independent Immigration and Refugee Board or by the UNHCR and then resettled to Canada, have failed to receive health care under this government, and refugees will continue to receive health care.
What New Democrats are asking for, and we really find it unbelievable, is that people whose claims were found to be false, people whose claims were found to be fraudulent, people waiting to be removed from Canada, should receive better health care than Canadians themselves.
Citizenship and Immigration November 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, we will uphold the court's ruling, even if we do not agree with it.
However, I have a question for the NDP. Do they respect Canadians? Twice yesterday and once again today, they said that we took health care benefits away from refugees. We did no such thing. The NDP wants to give better health care benefits than those Canadians receive to people whose refugee protection claims have been rejected or found to be fraudulent. That is shameful.