Government Orders
Mr. Chair, those people whose visas have expired are expected to be leaving.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, that is probably a question for the Minister of Health, but what I can say is that we are looking for doctors and nurses to come and help us here.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I do not think the member really has been here throughout the whole proceedings. Estimates were tabled. We have our levels planned. We have the numbers of the different categories of people who are being brought in. We have met those—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, we have set the targets for permanent residents. We have set the target for temporary residents, which would include the international students—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, let us use the facts here; the member's numbers are totally inaccurate. There have been 290,000 net new arrivals in Canada through the international student program. I do not know where she comes up with numbers. I would contextualize the numbers that she seems to read.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, as I understand it, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada processes 85,000 claims a year.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we have begun to decline for the first quarter of 2025, to 7.2%. The—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, to be clear, when a person's visa expires, they are expected to leave the country. That is a question for CBSA and the minister of public—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, that is why the ineligibility requirements in Bill C-2 are there. It is to ensure that we deal with the people who do not have legitimate claims. My—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I think that the member is talking about the Canada-Quebec accord. Is that right?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, we have met and exceeded the target for the first quarter of 2025.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank my colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert for the question. It is a very good question, a crucial question. My answer is that we are taking important steps to strengthen the integrity of our immigration system while honouring our humanitarian commitments. That is why we introduced changes to ensure that our immigration system can handle such challenges now …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I cannot discuss personal or individual cases on the floor of the House, for privacy reasons.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we have a robust system, but it is not a 100% tool to prevent fraud, which is why we are working to secure and protect our system.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, it is an absolute honour to be here this evening as the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship. I want to take a moment to really thank the constituents of Halifax West for placing their faith in me and electing me a second time as their member. I am joined this evening by the deputy minister, Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar. I want to take a moment to thank him and all the staff w…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we recognize that there are challenges in our housing and infrastructure. That is why we have tabled the levels plan that works on sustainable immigration. We are reducing our permanent residency—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, once again, it is not the fault of immigrants. Yes, there is an economic crisis, and we, on this side of the House, are working to reduce the number of temporary and permanent visas because we know that there is a crisis. We are continuing to work—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we actually spoke about that and it is in the estimates. We have biometrics that—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the hon. parliamentary secretary is a member from my home province of Nova Scotia. He has been an absolute delight to work with since I was elected federally, but even prior to that when I was a member of the Nova Scotia Legislature. He reminds me often of how young he is, but there is no age in this place. We all come from such different backgrounds. The member is quite right that I …
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, we have tabled the levels plan. It is a levels plan that had been consulted on by provinces—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, first of all, allow me to thank the hon. member for Moncton—Dieppe for her advocacy and for being a champion, not only for her community but for many members who have been here in Parliament, including me, for the last number of years. Through budget 2024, the government invested $411.2 million in the federal health program for 2024-25, topping up existing funding and ensuring that refu…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, between January and April 30, which is the first quarter of 2025, I can say that total asylum claims across Canada had fallen by 36%.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, temporary residents enrich Canada's economy and cultural fabric, so the government is committed to reducing temporary immigration growth to better align with the needs of our labour market, housing supply and community capacity. In order to accomplish this, a study permit cap has been introduced, and eligibility requirements for work permits have been tightened, including a reduced inta…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, the government is committed to sustainable immigration levels, so we are calibrating the volume of immigrants to help alleviate some pressure on the housing demand. As such, IRCC is stabilizing permanent residents as well as temporary admissions to less than 1% of Canada's population annually beyond 2027. We are focusing on attracting global talent from around the world in order …
Read full speech →Government Orders
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.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I have been the minister for a total of about three weeks already, and I do not recall saying statements like that.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, we are managing our targets. We have committed to reducing both our permanent residents and our temporary allocations. We have 2025-27 levels—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we are working toward sustainable immigration by reducing our temporary resident numbers as well as our permanent residents. We have tabled the two-year levels plan, and it is there for the member to actually see.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, that is absolutely not my intention.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, when immigration documents expire, individuals are expected to leave the country, and those who do not comply, public safety—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, all immigrants who come here, whether they are international students or temporary foreign workers, are screened by biometrics. Comprehensive screening is done.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we have introduced Bill C-2 to ensure that we protect our integrity on the borders and—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, our 2027 target is 5% of Canada's population. We are working—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we are meeting those targets; in fact we have more than met the expectation of the targets.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I have spoken about the pride that I have in the fact that we have tabled the two-year levels plan, which targets decreasing the temporary student population, as well as the temporary—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we have already exceeded the expectation that we are reducing it, so—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we are targeting the talent that we need, including physicians and people who work in construction. There are specific programs that were designed to target bringing those individuals to our communities.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again I would say that we are working on sustainable immigration. We have committed to reducing the temporary numbers as well as our permanent residency numbers. Canada—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, we work very hard at IRCC with our partners around the globe to ensure that—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, those numbers are taken way out of context.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, we have brought in physicians, nurses and health care workers, people to actually care for Canadians, through those programs, and that is something we will target and keep bringing.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I was a minister of immigration provincially for eight years. I have seen what this country has gone—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for Winnipeg North for all his reflections and accurate information. Immigration is indeed key to growing our economy and strengthening our communities. I have talked to the provinces and territories since I have become a minister. They are all responsible for immigration, and believe me, they all agree on that. Canadians rightly want a robust and sustain…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I am not sure how many minutes I have, but I absolutely love the question. I cannot agree more. Diversity in Canada is definitely our strength. It is diversity in our culture, people and languages. I cannot wait to go back to my communities and celebrate Portuguese heritage and Filipino heritage. Actually, next weekend, in my home city of Halifax, the Filipino fiesta is happening. It is…
Read full speech →Government Orders
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—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, again, we are working to stabilize the immigration numbers, but we also want to bring in talent.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, let me be clear. The number of expiring documents is not the number of people. Anybody whose visa expired is expected to leave, and when they do not—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, the reason we are here today is that we recognize that there was strain on our system because of the immigration that is growing.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I would love to accept the hon. member's invitation. I just want to say that I have received so many invitations. I wish I had lots of hours in the day to be able to fulfill them, but I am going to do everything I possibly can.
Read full speech →Government Orders
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.
Read full speech →