Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for King—Vaughan for her question. I am pleased to respond to it. With the border closures and worldwide travel restrictions, the pandemic created unprecedented challenges for our immigration program. Despite these challenges, Canada was still able to finalize a record number of entries last year by processing an unprecedented number of landings.

International Women's Day  Mr. Speaker, March 8 marks International Women's Day and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Canadian women in my community of Orléans, in this House and across Canada for their passion, dedication and contribution to our society. This morning I had the privilege of celebrating this remarkable day at my annual women's day breakfast and I would like to thank OCCO Kitchen for welcoming us and providing its hospitality for this event.

Emergencies Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her very delicate question. From the beginning, we have seen people brandishing hateful flags and encouraging conversations that go as far as to say that the Prime Minister of Canada should die, that he should be killed. I agree with her that in Canada, we must deal with issues involving extremists.

Emergencies Act  Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question because it gives me the opportunity to share what the government has done since the very beginning. We have been in touch with our municipal and provincial partners. Since we are talking about democracy, I need to share a story with the House.

Emergencies Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. As parliamentarians and as a government, it is not for us to dictate police instructions and operations or what the justice system is currently doing. I will leave that to the people who are better qualified than I am when it comes to the legal process that has been triggered in the past few days.

Emergencies Act  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Egmont. It is with sadness that I rise in this House this morning because of the circumstances outside of our Parliament, but with the privilege to bring the voice of our community of Orléans, a community that has sent me once again to the House of Commons in 2021 with the clear understanding of the importance of the public health measures.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, Canada remains firm in its commitment to welcome 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. We are sparing no effort to resettle Afghan refugees as quickly as we can, and I am happy to report that more than 7,500 Afghan refugees have begun their new lives here in Canada, while overcoming extreme challenges.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I would like to point out some of the progress that has already been made. We are back down to a 12‑month wait for spousal sponsorship applications. We have processed more than 500,000 new applications for study permits, which represents a 32% increase in our production.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, as always, our commitment to modernizing our immigration system is relevant. I was very happy to see that our government invested $85 million in improving our immigration system. We are more than happy to say, as we talk about some of the success of 2021, that we welcomed more than 405,000 new permanent residents last year.

Ottawa Business Owners  Mr. Speaker, today, I want to share with the House the work that Chef Joe, a resident of Orléans and well-known owner of Thali Ottawa and Coconut Lagoon, has done through his leadership and philanthropic work during the pandemic. Chef Joe has really stepped up throughout this crisis.

Vaccination Clinic  Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of visiting the Pharmasave Avalon Compounding Pharmacy last October, along with my counterpart, MPP Stephen Blais. The owner and pharmacist, Andrew Hanna, specializes in bringing customized medication with a doctor's prescription to his clients. It was truly impressive to see the technology on site.

Orléans  Madam Speaker, it was a privilege to invite the people of Orléans to a movie night at Ciné Starz last Friday. As everyone knows, the pandemic has had a profound effect on our ability to host events and meet in person, so I am proud that we were able to get together before the holiday season.

Orléans  Mr. Speaker, Orleans is full of outstanding residents. Two of Orléans' residents received 2021 Order of Ottawa awards last Thursday, November 18. Congratulations to Michael Allen, the president and CEO of United Way East Ontario, and Ian Faris, the senior vice-president of chamber network relations and advocacy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce for this well-deserved recognition.

Government Response to Petitions  Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8)(a), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to eight petitions. These returns will be tabled in an electronic format.

Francophone Association for Social Inclusion in Ottawa  Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of speaking virtually to express my appreciation to the members of the Association pour l'intégration sociale d'Ottawa, or AISO, on the occasion of their annual general meeting, on June 14. The association is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and I wanted to thank its members for the essential services they offer in our community.