Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a great time to get up to speak. We are into the Christmas season now and kind of in that spirit. I was reading this morning about something the NDP interim leader, the member for Vancouver Kingsway, said yesterday. Apparently he had asked the Prime Minister to grant party status again to the NDP in order to, in his words, make the House “function better”. I do not thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded division.
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Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member's speech. She spoke quite a bit about the one-year ban on asylum claimants, and she cherry-picked a couple of stories. I am sure we can always think of somebody who has been badly affected by any of the legislation we have. However, there are many cases of people abusing the system. Just today, I read that in her home province of British Columbia, there were 1…
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Mr. Speaker, yes, indeed, we were elected at the same time, and it has been six years of seeing very little accomplished and six years of longing for something different, and we are hoping the day will come soon. We have put forward so many amendments. The one I just want to highlight goes back to the issue of criminality. So often, non-citizens are charged with a crime, go before a judge and are …
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The member for Lac-Saint-Jean and I work well together on the committee. We do not always see eye to eye, but we are able to work very well, and that is what Canadians want to see when they look at Parliament. They want to see people who may not agree, and different ideas that come forward, but also that we can work in a constructive and positive way. I certainly believe we have that kind of relat…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-2 is sitting there; it has not moved forward. There is a reason that it has not moved forward, which is that it was bad legislation, which is just indicative of the way I see the government. As I said in my speech, the bill is the very first one the government brought forward. It is the Liberals' marquee legislation. After the election, it is what the Liberals focused probably …
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Mr. Speaker, when the new Minister of Culture was the immigration minister, he said, “I don’t see a world in which we lower [immigration targets].... Whether we revise them upwards or not is something that I have to look at. But certainly I don’t think [we will]...lower them”. Then in 2024 he made history by allowing nearly 500,000 permanent residents into the country, the highest number ever in a…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise in the House and speak on behalf of the citizens of Saskatoon West, the greatest riding in all of Canada, I have to say. I know there are other members who may not quite agree with me, especially the one sitting beside me, but I am very proud to represent Saskatoon as a whole and Saskatoon West specifically. We are talking about the budget today, and I h…
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Mr. Speaker, this bill would reduce taxes for people, yes. We have already heard it is probably like $20 a month, so it is not a really big deal. If this government was truly serious about saving money and saving taxpayer money, I wonder if the member would consider changing the federal interim health benefits that asylum seekers get when they are denied asylum in Canada but are trying to stay on …
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Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely correct. The Bloc members at our committee were very co-operative and helpful with creating good amendments, particularly around the issues of language and knowledge of Canada. This was the work of the committee. This work was delegated to the committee by the House. The Bloc members had very good responses and reasons for why we want to protect language. Of…
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Madam Speaker, I think my colleague's question points to a broader problem on the other side of the aisle in the government, and that is a lack of creativity and a lack of ability to create good legislation. We can see that in the current legislation. This is a carbon copy of Bill C-71, which was a carbon copy of the highly modified Senate bill that came to the House prior to that. There is not on…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to speak again in the House about this issue. Bill C-3 has been before the House a number of times already, so here we are talking about it again. One big reason that we are talking about this comes back to the fact that the immigration system has been messed up by the Liberals over the last 10 years. In the bill, Bill C-3, in particular, we are talking about the value…
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Madam Speaker, there is so much to talk about in that question. I will talk about the Ukrainian people, and I would frame it a certain way. Right now, we can imagine that the member opposite had a temporary permit to work in Canada and was worried about the fact that it was going to expire in, let us say, two months. The government is not very good at renewing permits. Anyone who has worked in the…
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Mr. Speaker, every dollar the Liberal government spends comes out of the pockets of Canadians in the form of higher taxes and inflation. At CMHC, executives each received bonuses of $43,000. Even more ridiculously, Via Rail executives got $110,000 each. While the Liberals reward insiders, they are asking young Canadians to sacrifice more, driving many of them to food banks. In Saskatoon, food bank…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned in his speech that there was a court ruling from an Ontario court that precipitated this whole discussion, so I have a two-part question here. First, why does he think the government did not appeal the decision? That seems like a strange decision from the government. Was it smart or not smart? Second, there needs to be a substantial connection according to the c…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition on behalf of citizens of Saskatoon West, particularly residents of Fairhaven, Meadowgreen, Parkridge and Confederation in Saskatoon who have faced significant challenges with crime. Violent crime was up 10% in 2024, with an increase in assault, murders and robberies. Saskatoon has had 14 homicides in 2024, an almost 15% increase over the number …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for attempting to explain the Liberals' position on this. First off, I want to once again mention that it was very silly of the government not to challenge the lower court ruling to be able to be in control of the situation. It just demonstrates the government's typical desire to let the courts make the decisions so it does not have to make the hard decisions. The…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague referred to the member for Lac-Saint-Jean, who is a very good and diligent member of the committee. He does very good work and has been very helpful to the committee as a whole. He asked an excellent question. We and the member for Lac-Saint-Jean asked it of the government as well. We asked how many people this would impact, and the government is incapable of knowing the …
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Mr. Speaker, trying to understand the reason and logic behind the Liberal government is something I have struggled with the entire six years I have been in Parliament. It is very difficult sometimes to understand the logic behind decisions. As I just said, the government does not know how many people this bill would affect, yet it is moving ahead with this legislation. It does not understand the p…
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Mr. Speaker, I know the member for Winnipeg North is a master of words and likes to speak in all kinds of different ways, but the reality of this is really quite simple. We have a person who is not a Canadian and is obtaining Canadian citizenship one way or another. The member spoke about this method versus that method or another method. It does not really matter. The average Canadian does not und…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be in the House today speaking to the bill before us. Fundamentally, we are talking about Bill C-3, which is a chain migration bill. It is a bill that would allow parents who were not born in Canada to give their children who were not born in Canada citizenship forever and ever. From my perspective, that is not a good thing. How did we get to this place? Originally,…
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Mr. Speaker, with Halloween almost here, Canadians are not scared of ghosts; they are scared of the Liberal budget on November 4. After 10 years, families live in a haunted house of debt and a nightmare on main street: monster deficits, prices that jump-scare at the till and vampire taxes draining paycheques. Under the Liberals, too many cupboards are bare, and there are empty bank accounts, empty…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is probably aware that, at the moment, there are about 600 foreign nationals in Canada who are due to be deported but cannot be tracked down by the CBSA. Clearly, the Liberal government has failed in its ability to keep track of foreign nationals like this, people with criminal records who should be deported. It is unable to find them. It does not know how to locate them. I…
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Mr. Speaker, on the question of Ukraine, these are people who are fleeing war. Their houses may not even exist anymore. We invited them to come to Canada. They are here. They came here. Part of that deal, at least in their minds, was that there would be a path to permanent residency. That has not been offered by the government. I think that, yes, absolutely, those people need to be treated fairly.…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague said it very well. The government creates problems and then fans out money to try to solve them. Often those solutions do not happen. I think that is one of the reasons why Canadians have grown very weary of the government over the last 10 years. It is why there are such high levels of angst in our country. It is why there is a lack of trust in government in general. We a…
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Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged that the member for Winnipeg North recognized that I was being very critical of the government, so he is listening. That is good. With respect to the Ukrainian situation and the people who were invited to Canada from Ukraine, this is, I think, the core message. Canada said to people from Ukraine, “Come here. We will give you a safe place to stay and options”, so they c…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of constituents from Saskatoon West regarding tent encampments in the city. The petitioners note that what begins as a temporary set-up turns into a hub of criminal activity and public safety concerns endangering vulnerable individuals. Under current law, authorities have some authority to act, but ambiguity and weak enforcement have left c…
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Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech with great interest. I have a quick question for the member. There are three million temporary residents in Canada right now. Would the bill solve that problem, or is there something else that needs to be done? What suggestions does the member have?
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Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to stand here today on behalf of the citizens of Saskatoon West and speak to this bill, Bill C-12. I am going to speak mainly about the immigration aspects of this bill today. The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this bill is to question why we are here. What is it that has caused all this to happen? The member who just spoke mentioned changes that she tho…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is very right that there has been a big mess created with temporary residence. There are over three million temporary residents in our country right now. The bill would absolutely not solve that problem. There are fundamental issues with the way the immigration system is being run in this country. There are fundamental errors that have been made by the government in not m…
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Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, I do not think Canadians really care who studies what. They want to see fixes. They want to see changes. They want to see improvements. From a technical perspective, the member is probably correct that how we deal with it in the House should be done according to who knows what about which area, but ultimately, the government needs to propose solutions that actua…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the problems I have seen over the years from the government is that, when there is a problem, the solution is to throw money at it. It will add $1 billion for this and $100 million for that. We hear this all the time, over and over again. If there is a problem, the solution is money. Yes, we do need more money. To hire more border guards takes more money, this is true. I would …
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to present a petition on behalf of the residents of Saskatoon West. These are residents of Fairhaven, Meadowgreen, Parkridge and Confederation Park in Saskatoon who are concerned about crime in the city. Violent crime is up 10% in Saskatoon, with an increase in assaults, murders and robberies. Saskatoon has had 14 homicides in 2024, an almost 15% increase…
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Mr. Speaker, I am going to split my time with the member for Kitchener South—Hespeler. This legislation, in my view, is flawed and redundant. We already have laws to cover what this legislation would be doing. I am going to talk about the real issue that I see, which is enforcing criminal laws in our country. It is one of the problems we have in our country right now, not the lack of laws. I also …
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Mr. Speaker, we have to be really careful that we focus on what needs to be focused on. We have to make sure that we stop and reduce the amount of hate crime in our country. We have to remember that we have existing laws on the books that can be used for this purpose. We have to make sure that our law enforcement has the tools it needs in order to enforce those laws.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to present a petition on behalf of residents of Fairhaven, Meadowgreen Park and Confederation Park in Saskatoon, all of whom have faced significant challenges as crime, chaos and disorder take over their neighbourhoods. The petitioners note that drug use and homelessness have overrun their neighbourhoods, making public areas, schools and even private backyards uns…
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Mr. Speaker, of course we all want fewer hate crimes in our country. Of course we all abhor hate crimes when we see them. However, there are already many laws on the books to deal with pretty much any kind of hate crime that can be there. There has been the burning of churches, as an example. A lot of these crimes go unsolved, or the laws are not enforced. There are current laws on the books that …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked an excellent question. The short answer is no, I have not heard much logic from the other side, frankly, on just about anything in the House. There are laws on the books. A great example is the situation in St. Thomas I cited, which happened just a few weeks ago, where there was a symbol involved, and police officers reacted to that. They were able to charge the hom…
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Mr. Speaker, it is great to hear that the Liberals are finally listening to what Canadians have been telling them for 10 years. However, we have seen over and over again a lot of talk and ideas, but the action is not there. Maybe they will introduce something, I do not know. We have not seen it. This is a pattern we have grown to become very used to on this side of the House over the last 10 years…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. The most important thing we need to do as a country is to make sure that we have the best controls we can on asylum seekers so that we are not attracting people. Former prime minister Trudeau famously said that Canada was open and invited people to come to Canada. Guess what. People came. Of course they did. It is really important that we make sure we have sys…
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Mr. Speaker, when I look across Saskatoon West, past the shopfronts along 22nd Street, and the family homes and small businesses that built the west end of Saskatoon, I see the real cost of 10 years of Liberal failures on crime, drugs and immigration. The government broke these systems, and Bill C-2 is its frantic omnibus attempt to look tough at a podium while ducking accountability at home. It s…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague bringing up the issue of temporary residence in Canada because this is a major issue right now in our country. The data from the member's own party shows that well over 7% of the population right now is temporary. This has been totally caused by the government's lack of attention to this area and its encouragement for people to come to Canada, with absolutely…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to fix the Liberals' broken bail system, but has not delivered. It is another broken Liberal promise and another Liberal bait and switch because the Prime Minister is just another Liberal. Chief McBride, Saskatoon's top cop, says that it is a struggle every day with repeat offenders. The Prime Minister said he would get tough on crime, but since the Liberal…
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With regard to the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan and the statement in the backgrounder that “the plan will reduce the housing supply gap by approximately 670,000 units by the end of 2027”: (a) how was that number arrived at; (b) were any empirical studies done to corroborate this figure, and, if so, (i) what were the names of these studies, (ii) what specific conclusion did these studies reach…
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With regard to the various changes made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to the international student program: (a) how does the government plan to measure the effectiveness of these changes in reducing fraud and improving student experiences; (b) how does the government plan to monitor the implementation of the letter of acceptance verification process to prevent fraud; (c) what typ…
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With regard to section 243 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which requires foreign nationals removed from Canada to repay the removal costs under subsections (a) and (b) if seeking re-entry: (a) what is the total amount recovered by the government for removal costs, broken down by the amounts set out under sections 243(a) and 243(b) and by calendar year since 2016; and (b) ho…
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With regard to the electoral district of Saskatoon West: what are the details of all the grants, contributions, loans and any other payments from Government of Canada departments, agencies, and Crown corporations, but excluding the Canada Revenue Agency, to all other levels of government within and outside of Canada, First Nations, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and charities, from …
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Mr. Speaker, I just heard the member for Vancouver East talk about championing the government's bill, and it made me think back to the last Parliament, in which the party of which she is a member continually, on issue after issue, championed the government's legislation. In fact, the NDP always supported it. It sounds as though, even today, its members have not learned much, and they are still con…
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Mr. Speaker, one of the questions that was asked to the government in the prior Parliament was how many people this bill might affect. That was when it was in its previous form, as Bill C-71, and the Liberals did not have an answer. They had no clue, basically. They could not make an estimate, which then leads to obvious questions. The member spoke about health care, but it also raises questions a…
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Mr. Speaker, two points have been raised a number of times today, with the legislation as it is proposed, relating to language requirements and criminal history. I would like to hear from the parliamentary secretary whether there is any indication, any acceptance or agreement from the government that these things should be considered. We consider them with all other types of immigrants to Canada. …
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