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Mr. Chair, I was a minister of immigration provincially for eight years. I have seen what this country has gone—
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Mr. Chair, I believe economists and people say, in relation to the article he is quoting, that it is the United States tariffs that are driving these numbers.
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Mr. Chair, we have a levels plan that has been tabled in this House. We have targeted numbers. Those numbers are very much in the public eye. Everybody can look at them. We are meeting those numbers.
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Mr. Chair, we are concentrating on bringing the talent that Canada needs, and that includes people in the medical world and in the construction world. Those are the targets that we are concentrating on.
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Mr. Chair, I have done my best to answer the questions. There are times when the amount of time is limited. Members are asking very important questions, questions that Canadians rightfully asked when we went to the doors in the last campaign, which was only—
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Mr. Chair, we will try this again. Immigration is our strength. The increased immigration number, because of COVID, because of the last—
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Mr. Chair, managed migration growth is what this country needs at the present time, and this is the government that—
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Mr. Chair, I do not know how much time I have, but perhaps you would allow me. When numbers are set in those targets, I know, as a previous provincial minister—
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Mr. Chair, when those targets are set, the IRCC has to consult all provinces, territories, stakeholders and communities.
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Mr. Chair, immigration is Canada's greatest strength, and it is important not to blame newcomers to Canada for the housing crisis.
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Mr. Chair, what I will say is, post-pandemic, had we not increased our immigration levels, our economy would have absolutely shrunk.
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Mr. Chair, we recognize that we need to balance our immigration levels with the pressures on housing, and that is exactly what we are doing.
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Mr. Chair, the figures I have been presented with have told me that, because of the work we have been doing in cities like Toronto, there is now a decline of 8.1% in rent.
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Mr. Chair, the member mentioned foreign students, meaning international students. We have brought in 290,000 net new arrivals in Canada through the international student program. A lot of these students are here—
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Mr. Chair, we have introduced student caps. We have also worked with the institutions. The provinces are very well aware, and they are working with their universities and colleges through the designated learning institutions. We have put all kinds of limitations and expectations on the universities.
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Mr. Chair, how much has the federal government spent? I did have that in my estimates actually, and I will get it for the member.
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Mr. Chair, the housing temporary relief that we have is long-term. We provided money to provinces in order to build infrastructure that is permanent. The number—
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Mr. Chair, I believe I already responded to that question when we talked about international students and housing. The facts show that rents have already started to come down in major cities, and we have—
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Mr. Chair, let me first of all thank the member for his hard work for his constituents in London Centre. We had the privilege of attending his constituency, I think two years ago, and we saw first-hand the diversity in the population he represents. I am very much looking forward to working with him as a parliamentary secretary. Going back to the labour gap demands in the country, we in the IRCC, w…
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Mr. Chair, Bill C-2 is critical for ensuring the integrity of our immigration and asylum system. We want to make sure that people around the globe know we welcome talent and welcome people to come visit, but when their time expires, we want them to go back home. If someone is a legitimate asylum seeker, we are here to protect them, but our borders are not a shortcut for people claiming asylum. The…
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Mr. Chair, I have already spoken, in my very short few weeks as a federal minister, with the provincial and territorial ministers responsible for immigration. The provincial nominee program is key to a lot of provinces because it gives them the opportunity to make decisions as to where they believe they have labour gap needs. We are here, as a federal department, to work with provinces and territo…
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Mr. Chair, I am passionate about francophone immigration. When I was the minister of immigration and responsible for Acadian and francophone affairs in Nova Scotia, I worked very hard to increase the number of francophones in Nova Scotia. I am very proud that Canada has exceeded the targets it set for itself. We have a plan here. We have set a target of 12% francophone immigration outside Quebec b…
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Mr. Chair, vetting security risk is something—
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Mr. Chair, we have service standards. From my briefings, in the very short time that I have been a minister, I understand we are actually meeting and exceeding those standards.
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Mr. Chair, we actually spoke about that and it is in the estimates. We have biometrics that—
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Mr. Chair, all immigrants who come here, whether they are international students or temporary foreign workers, are screened by biometrics. Comprehensive screening is done.
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Mr. Chair, we work very hard at IRCC with our partners around the globe to ensure that—
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Mr. Chair, the safety of Canadians is of prime importance, which is why we have also introduced Bill C-2 to strengthen our borders, ensure the immigration system and visa—
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Mr. Chair, again, there are biometrics, even in the estimates. We have funding allocated for those, which is $55.5 million in the estimates. There are—
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Mr. Chair, I mean, the CBSA would be the department that would be able to answer questions like that.
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Mr. Chair, again, these questions are better suited to Public Safety and the Canada Border Services Agency.
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Mr. Chair, I do have a mandate letter from the Prime Minister, and he has made it quite clear as to what the expectations are.
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Mr. Chair, these are security matters and security fissures, and of course, Public Safety and CBSA take control of that.
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Mr. Chair, we have a robust criminal justice system, and there are roles in place. Again, people who are charged—
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Mr. Chair, we have robust measures in the main estimates that deal with biometric collection, with security, but again, CBSA and CSIS are the ones that are in charge of that.
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Mr. Chair, when we talk about international students, I can say that in my own province of Nova Scotia, for the last over a decade, they come to the province and really do enrich the lives—
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Mr. Chair, we are taking vital steps, and we have already done that, to ensure that students are supported and that we protect—
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Mr. Chair, we have tightened the visa integrity measures. We have instituted financial requirements—
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Mr. Chair, what I can say is, in 2024, we had approved—
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Mr. Chair, again, there is a robust system, and we have tightened those systems. We have updated the postgraduate work permit program to better respond to the needs, and we have limited the number off campus. We are working hard to ensure the international—
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Mr. Chair, again, we are taking steps to ensure that students are supported but at the same time that they are not being taken advantage of, and we are restoring—
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Mr. Chair, what I would say is, in 2024, IRCC approved 292,431 new study permits. That is 41% fewer than what was approved in 2023.
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Mr. Chair, we have instituted stronger integrity to prevent any student fraud, particularly when students are taken advantage of by fraudulent partners that—
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Mr. Chair, yes, of course I can. We have implemented an enhanced letter of acceptance verification system to protect these students from fraud.
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Mr. Chair, students who were granted letters fraudulently did not come to Canada.
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Mr. Chair, what I have said and will say again is that we have implemented stronger integrity to prevent students from being taken advantage of. We have also clarified that programs delivered through—
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Mr. Chair, that is an important question. The two levels of government jointly administer the temporary foreign worker program. Quebec controls more than 50% of the immigration for this type of worker, but we are here to work with Quebec, regardless.
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Mr. Chair, I have only been here for three and a half weeks, and I want to continue working with all the provinces, including Quebec, but also with my officials. We are going to come back to this. There have been many changes to many programs.
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Mr. Chair, let me welcome the colleague to the House to ask me questions tonight. As I have said, we tabled the levels plan for 2025—
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Mr. Chair, the plan that we tabled is that, by the end of 2027, we will decrease—
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