House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 50% of the vote.
Questions on the Order Paper March 21st, 2011
With regard to Recreational Infrastructure Canada projects in British Columbia: (a) in which federal riding is each project located; (b) what is the description of each project; (c) what is the expected cost of each project; and (d) what is the expected completion date of each project?
Questions on the Order Paper March 21st, 2011
With regard to Recreational Infrastructure Canada projects in Alberta: (a) in which federal riding is each project located; (b) what is the description of each project; (c) what is the expected cost of each project; and (d) what is the expected completion date of each project?
Genie Awards March 11th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the 31st annual Genie Awards paid tribute to artists in the Canadian film industry, and it was certainly one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year. Artists and fans alike came to the national capital for a spectacular evening.
Leading with 11 nominations was Barney's Version, Mordecai Richler's beloved story set in Montreal. It took seven Genies, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Paul Giamatti's depiction of Barney, and Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design for Claude Paré and Élise De Blois.
But the winner of this glamorous evening, broadcast live on CBC, was Montreal's own Denis Villeneuve. His acclaimed film Incendies won eight awards, including Achievement in Direction for Villeneuve and the prestigious prize of Best Motion Picture.
This has clearly been a spectacular year of achievement in French and English Canadian film.
On behalf of the Liberal Party and my cherished city of Montreal, we congratulate all of the Canadian filmmakers who have created some real masterpieces for the Canadian film industry.
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act March 9th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the minister of immigration and I have had our political differences this week, but on this matter of policy, we are very much on the same page.
This bill would give citizens and permanent residents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to sponsor a member of their extended family, which includes brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins. That is a wonderful idea. It would be commendable if our system worked wonderfully and if we did not have waiting lists and wait times that are much too long. Our priority must be to first bring over people who will help build a stronger country and to recognize the importance of immediate family members, such as children, spouses and, of course, parents and grandparents. However, to be honest, I think that our system is not robust or efficient enough, considering the resources we have, to expand this definition to include brothers, sisters, aunts and cousins.
When the member for Trinity—Spadina stood to respond to a question, she went on about the horrific wait times that people are facing. I absolutely agree with her. I have the honour of sitting with her on the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, which is doing a wait time study that deals with the hardship so many new Canadians are going through right now. They are waiting far too long to bring over their loved ones, spouses or children. The wait time is 8, 10 and sometimes even 12 years to bring over one's parents or grandparents.
What concerns me is that the proposal by the member for Trinity—Spadina would actually increase significantly the wait times for all of those people who are still waiting for their close relatives. Far from improving the system, it would be making it worse for everyone.
She talked about young Irish and European immigrants who are interested in coming here and that somehow being able to encourage their cousins, brothers or sisters to come would be a major incentive for those young people to come. Perhaps it would form a small part of an incentive, but the genuine incentive, which she mentioned herself, for those young people to come over would be to find work, to be able to build a family, to be able to create a future.
For most people, building a family and creating a future does not depend on being able to bring over an uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, cousin or extended relatives. It means bringing over a spouse, a parent or grandparent. Sometimes it means bringing over children.
The member mentioned that she would specifically target young people. It would be wonderful for young people to bring other young people, their cousins, brothers or sisters. Nothing in her bill specifically targets young people. It is a one-time permission to sponsor anyone. As the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism mentioned, there potentially could be millions more people applying to come here.
We need to make sure we keep a robust and effective principle of citizenship and immigration that brings over the best and brightest from around the world and sets them to work to build their own relevance. We need to allow them to achieve their hopes and dreams, and give them the tools to do so. Our immigration system is the most generous in the world. Canadians who are defined not by their differences but by the strengths of their differences need to remain firm in understanding that people can come to Canada and build their lives.
Even though the minister is proud of having welcomed record numbers of people last year, at the same time he is cutting $53 million from settlement services for those vulnerable new Canadians. This will make it more difficult for people to integrate, prosper, develop language skills and find jobs in their areas of expertise. It will make it more difficult for them to feel like fully valued, relevant participants in building this great country, as we do every day, all of us, as Canadians.
The challenge we are facing now is how to make our current system work better, a challenge that, to my mind, the Conservative government has not lived up to yet, certainly not when it is insisting on cutting family class immigration for parents and grandparents, certainly not when it is cutting settlement services that would allow new Canadians to succeed. One thing we cannot do, however nice it might seem to be able to do it, is further expand at this time the definition of the family classes we can sponsor.
The reality is that we simply do not have the resources to open the country up like that. The same people who might be happy to be able to sponsor their cousins, aunts and uncles would be even more frustrated to have to wait even longer for their spouse, children or grandparents. That is why the Liberal Party is not inclined to support this motion.
Points of Order March 9th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism told the House a little while ago that I gave a speech in Toronto on Wednesday, February 9. I know he would be horrified to think that he might have misled the House, so I am happy to give him the opportunity to set the record straight.
Attendance records confirm that I was indeed in caucus that Wednesday morning. In fact, I remember it well. Everyone brought their skates to caucus because as soon as it was over, we crossed the street and I went skating with our leader on the Rideau Canal. I would be happy to ask for unanimous consent to table a picture of my son on my shoulders while I was skating on the Rideau Canal.
I was there that afternoon for question period and there that evening for votes.
Citizenship and Immigration March 9th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the minister should defend himself.
Not only has he politicized the minister's awards, he politicized ministerial missions by including Parm Gill, the Conservative candidate in Brampton--Springdale, in his 2009 official trip to India. This conduct undermines the very values and fairness of Canada's just society, the one my father fought for, the one the charter upholds, the one people around the world look to as an inspiration, the one we Canadians believe in to our bones.
How dare the minister show such wanton disrespect for all Canadians?
Citizenship and Immigration March 9th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration has such elastic ethics that he does not even see that he has become the incarnation of a conflict of interest. He is supposed to be the guardian of Canadian citizenship, but instead of helping new Canadians build better lives, he prefers to hold them hostage. For political gain, he is taking advantage of the vulnerability of those who believed that they could build better lives by coming here.
How can he have the gall to resort to such despicable blackmail and target those he refers to as “very ethnic”? It is disgraceful. Will he admit it?
Citizenship and Immigration March 8th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, my website is paid for by the federal Liberal riding association of Papineau.
We are also seeing a very harmful confusion of roles. On the one hand, the minister wields an enormous amount of power, but on the other hand, he is also the Conservative Party's main recruiter among cultural communities. He is confusing his two roles. He put the blame on his assistant, but back in 2009, he handed out some minister's excellence awards that he himself signed and that displayed a huge Conservative logo.
When will he stop using departmental resources for partisan purposes?
Citizenship and Immigration March 8th, 2011
Mr. Speaker, an immigration minister wields an enormous amount of power over new Canadians. He gets to decide if they get to stay and become Canadians or whether they will be reunited with their loved ones.
Yet this minister also operates as the Conservatives' recruiter-in-chief among cultural communities and gets to use confidential government data to target those very ethnic voters for partisan gains.
The irony is that many immigrants are fleeing regimes where these egregious conflicts of interest are far too common. Why can this minister not see that he is undermining the fairness of this great country?
Access to Information March 7th, 2011
It has come to this, Mr. Speaker. In order for members of the House to do our jobs and make informed decisions on behalf of Canadians, we need to pry scraps of relevant information out of the Conservatives' clenched fists and drag it out of them as they kick and scream at committee.
I will remind them that they have a deadline to meet today to produce the costs of prisons, planes and corporate tax giveaways. Or, do they actually take pride in being found in contempt of Parliament and, therefore, in contempt of Canadians?