Marc Garneau

[Citizenship, Refugees, and Immigration, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as members know, here in Canada, we welcome refugees who are fleeing persecution and who fear for their lives if they go back to their home country.

We are the second largest country in the world, and our values motivate us to welcome those fleeing persecution. At the same time, we are making sure the rules are being followed. People who do not follow the rules will be sent back to their homeland. We are very clear on this.

[Citizenship, Refugees, and Immigration, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is certainly one of the initiatives we have taken, given that the majority of asylum seekers come from Nigeria.

I must also remind my colleague that we invested $174 million in budget 2018, including $74 million to hire more Immigration and Refugee Board members so that refugee claims can be processed more quickly. We are taking action.

[Shipping, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly took note of the incident that occurred last spring when the Yamachiche region was flooded because a ship was going too fast. The pilot was penalized after being found guilty of travelling at excessive speed near Yamachiche.

As for financial compensation, as everyone knows, many other houses were flooded because of last spring's torrential rains, and financial compensation will come from the province at the same time.

[Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I find these remarks rather extraordinary coming from the same Harper Conservatives who did not want to let the Syrians into our country. We, on the other hand, have a different policy. We are going to make sure we show compassion toward refugees fleeing persecution who have every right to come here. At the same time, we are going to make sure the rules are being followed here in Canada. A person who comes to Canada does not automatically have the right to stay unless they meet the criteria for refugee status.

[Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as a Canadian, I am proud of Canada's refugee policy. We can all be proud of this policy, which welcomes those fleeing persecution. We do have rules and they must be followed. We will see to it that these rules are followed to ensure the integrity of our immigration system, Canadians' safety, and respect for national and international rules.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we have described the measures that we have taken to date and the new measures that we are implementing.

My colleague's reference to a refugee camp at the Lacolle border crossing is quite frankly ridiculous. It is not only ridiculous, but it is also dangerous and irresponsible to make those kind of statements here in the House.

It is a temporary camp in case there are a lot more asylum seekers. If we did not set up this camp, Canadians would think that we are irresponsible. We are taking the necessary measures to be prepared for every eventuality, even though we are working on decreasing the number of asylum seekers in Canada.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of our work in the United States with the Central American diaspora, whose members are not claiming asylum in Canada. That is because a number of our colleagues and consulates in the United States have worked hard to help them understand that there are rules governing asylum seekers' entry into Canada. We are doing our job on that front, and we have no asylum seekers from Central America.

[Rail Transportation, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is equally simple.

We have obligations we have to meet at the federal level when we have federal contracts to procure new equipment. First there is NAFTA, and then our obligations to the World Trade Organization.

When we issue a request for a project, we are not allowed to specify factors such as a certain percentage in Canada and a certain percentage of jobs. It is not allowed—

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we did announce new measures this morning during our press conference.

Among other things, we have spoken to our American partners about the issue of asylum seekers arriving from Nigeria with a visa. This is an important file because this group represents the largest number of asylum seekers at this time. We also provided more information on the issue of the triage system set up to deal with those arriving at the Quebec border. We spoke about measures we are taking to examine the additional requests for funding from the Province of Quebec. We are doing all kinds of things at this time.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives may like to talk about security but they are the ones that slashed $390 million from the Canada Border Services Agency budget. They claim to be full of compassion but they are the ones who took medical aid away from families and children who came to Canada as refugees. This hypocrisy and them pretending to care about refugees is completely false. Canadians need to know that.