Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said all staff at the Vegreville immigration centre will be “guaranteed jobs in Edmonton”. However, officials say more than half will not be covered to move, some will not even get an offer at all, and others cannot afford to commute. The minister's answers keep changing and contradicting officials and others.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, if the minister does not care about killing jobs in town by closing the Vegreville immigration centre, maybe he will care about the social impact. Seventy-six per cent of CPC Vegreville employees are women. Therefore, he is ripping the mothers, daughters, babas, the volunteers, and the leaders out of town.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the minister claims that closing the Vegreville immigration centre will increase jobs in Alberta, but he is wrong. This edict will immediately kill 280 jobs in town, but that is only the start. Jobs will be lost at the local post office, local school, the town, charities, and more.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the minister's excuse for closing the Vegreville processing centre and moving it to a Liberal city riding is nonsense. He claimed there was a strong business case and cited efficiencies. He also said that the union agrees, but prairie PSAC reps say, “This has nothing to do with workload or the capacity of these employees to deliver service....

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, rural Albertans recently rejected the urban-centric Liberal agenda. The out of touch edict to close the Vegreville case processing centre, which shocked the town and region, is an example of why they did. This unilateral deliberate removal of rural jobs to a Liberal-held city riding will cause unnecessary pain to families and devastate this rural town.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the minister does not get the scope of the damage: 280 jobs, 250 spousal jobs, three local businesses, one-quarter of the students in town. Listen, moving these jobs is like taking 55,000 jobs out of Edmonton. There was no consultation and no cost analysis. Schools will lose students; groups will lose volunteers and donors; small businesses will lose customers, revenue, and owners in town; farm families will be hurt.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals should stop saying that they are not causing job losses because this edict is deliberately killing jobs in Vegreville. I hope the minister will join me in town, speak directly with the people who will be hurt the most, look them in their eyes and tell them why he approves this action.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, last week the minister said there was a “strong business case” for closing the Vegreville case processing centre, but no one was consulted, not local staff, nor administrators, nor town leaders, nor residents. When asked directly if a full cost analysis was done, senior department officials said no.

Employment  We have to talk. You are killing the town.

Employment  Madam Speaker, yesterday Vegreville was blindsided. The Liberals will shut down the immigration case processing centre. That means the jobs of 280 people will be gone and 250 spousal jobs will be impacted. Three local businesses are owned by worker families, and a quarter of the students in the town's schools are kids of workers.

Employment  Madam Speaker, Vegreville cannot take another hit. Farmers and energy families are already struggling. The Liberals' planned carbon tax will hurt them even more and hike the cost of everything. There are 100 houses on the market in town. This will mean 200 more. A single mom of two, who had moved from Edmonton to Vegreville to raise her kids in rural life, cannot commute or afford to relocate.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals used a privilege of government to raise money for themselves. This time, the Minister of Finance charged $1,500 a ticket just to meet with him. Young Canadians cannot afford to spend two month's rent in order to be consulted. Times are tough for everyday Canadians, yet the Liberals will make everything cost more for everyone with the carbon tax.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, last year the Prime Minister said, “There should be no preferential access to government”, but his finance minister disobeyed that directive with a $1,500 per ticket fundraiser last week. While Canadians are struggling to put food on their tables and keep a roof over their heads, the finance minister is giving special attention to his fellow rich Liberal friends, who paid $1,500 for the privilege of talking to him.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Liberals prefer to listen to their wealthy donors, not to everyday Canadians. The finance minister makes life more difficult for struggling Canadian families: more difficult to find a job, more difficult to save, more taxes to pay, more expensive to live.

Carbon Tax Proposal  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's devastating tax will make every single thing more expensive for everyone. It is regressive. It will hurt the most vulnerable and the poorest the most. In Lakeland, so many people are hurting, losing their livelihoods, their homes, bracing for tougher times ahead.