Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank the PMO for that question. What I heard in question period today was the minister of transportation saying, “I want to remind Canadians that we are still in a pandemic.” To the member asking that question, and to the transport minister, why did that not stop the Prime Minister from calling an unnecessary, selfish election?

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, we need to have a really serious conversation about health care in this country, because in the last six years things have not improved whatsoever. We all, as a group here, from all parties, should be working together. Instead of politicizing this pandemic, we should have been finding ways to improve things in this country.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, what also needs to be made clear is that the people who did those things do not represent the vast majority of the people who are concerned about these lockdowns and want these mandates to end. Those calling for an end to the mandates are ordinary Canadians. They came from across Canada, with diverse backgrounds and supporting different political parties.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to speak in support of today's Conservative opposition day motion to end the lockdowns and restrictions and to have a clear path forward so Canadians can have faith in our parliamentary system again. The Prime Minister has placed many hardships on Canadians over the last two-plus years, and it is time that Canadians see some hope.

Calgary Forest Lawn  Mr. Speaker, last week, I joined in recognizing the Aisokinakio'p's partnership with the Dashmesh Culture Centre to provide vaccines to our northeast Calgary communities. In the spirit of reconciliation, these clinics have been a huge success and have created a unique partnership between the indigenous and the Sikh communities to serve the community at large.

COVID-19 Response Measures  Mr. Speaker, I applaud the courage of the member for Louis-Hébert, who stood up to the tone-deaf Prime Minister, calling on his government to stop politicizing the pandemic and stop dividing Canadians. Those speaking out against the mandates and restrictions are not white supremacists or extremists like the Prime Minister tries to label.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, applicants for the federal skilled worker program are not being invited to apply under express entry, even though foreign work permits, study permits and temporary resident visas continue to be processed. This is adding to the pain of the families who remain separated, a labour shortage that is hurting Canadian businesses and refugees who remain stranded and feel hopeless.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I would inform my hon. colleague from Quebec that this is a study currently being done in the citizenship and immigration committee. The report that came out is very alarming regarding the systemic racism that has been taking place within the IRCC. It is not only discriminating against its own employees, but much like what my hon. colleague was talking about, there are reports of people from Africa being called “the dirty 30”.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, with regard to the Coutts border, which is what I think my hon. colleague is talking about, the Premier of Alberta made it very clear that he has asked for it to be cleared up, but I want to talk about what the underlying message of these hard-working truckers is. They just want to be heard.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Barrie—Innisfil for his great advocacy for the people in Afghanistan. The failure in Afghanistan started well before the Prime Minister called a very selfish election, abandoning those who served Canada and putting $650 million more debt onto Canadians.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to say happy new year to all my colleagues and to just say how great it is to be physically back here in the House with everybody. Last November's throne speech brought us the standard empty words with no real plan to solve any of the numerous problems Canadians are facing today: home affordability, inflation, rising home heating costs, a supply chain disaster and the labour shortage crisis that we see in this country.

Questions Passed as Orders for Return  With regard to the processing of applications by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC): (a) how many applications has IRCC received and processed since January 2021, broken down by month; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by visa category and type of application; (c) how many applications did IRCC receive each month in 2020, broken down by month; (d) what is the breakdown of (c) by visa category and type of application; (e) how many of the applications received since January 2021 are considered in backlog; (f) how many of the applications received in 2020 were considered in backlog; (g) since January 2021, what is the average visa processing time, broken down by category; and (h) in 2020, what was the average visa processing time, broken down by category?

Questions Passed as Orders for Return  With regard to the applications and resettlement of refugees from Afghanistan submitted to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC): (a) what is the number of applications of Afghan refugees broken down by stage of processing; (b) what is the average processing time for an Afghan refugee application under the special immigration program; (c) how many Afghan refugees who applied to IRCC are in third countries; (d) what is the country breakdown of refugees in (c); (e) how many Afghan interpreters have submitted a refugee application; (f) how many Afghan interpreters' applications have been processed; (g) how many Afghan interpreters' applications have been denied; (h) what is the breakdown of (g) by reason for denial; (i) how many Afghan refugee applications have been made by refugees who identify as a targeted religious minority; and (j) what is the timeline for IRCC to resettle all 40,000 Afghan refugees in Canada?

Questions Passed as Orders for Return  With regard to the allegations of racism and discrimination reported by employees of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups Final Report by Pollara Strategic Insights delivered in June 2021: (a) how many complaints of racism and discrimination have been made by employees at IRCC since January 2019; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by month since January 2019; (c) how many of the complaints made by employees were referred to or handled by the Office of Conflict Resolution; (d) what is the number of complaints of racism and discrimination handled by the Office of Conflict Resolution since its creation, broken down by month; (d) what authority and recourse does the Office of Conflict Resolution have to respond to complaints of racism and discrimination; (e) how many members of the anti-racism task force at IRCC identify as racialized; (f) what measures, other than the IRCC Code of Conduct, have been implemented to combat racism and discrimination in IRCC; (g) how are these measures, and the IRCC Code of Conduct, being enforced by IRCC management; and (h) what is IRCC doing to ensure that racism and discrimination does not affect the processing and review of immigration, refugee, and citizenship applications, and the approval or denial of these applications?

Community Support  Mr. Speaker, in Calgary, the Hope Mission has been giving back to our city since 2012. In my riding of Calgary Forest Lawn, Hope Mission is a partner within the community to care for our neighbours in need. The mission puts on weekly kids and youth programs and provide meals, encouragement and support from adult members and mentors.