44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 11, 2023 10:00AM
- May/11/23 10:30:26 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, immigration is essential to grow the economy and meet the demographic challenge posed by the aging population. I completely agree with the principle that it is important to make the necessary investments to ensure a good quality of life for newcomers. It is up to Quebec to decide how many newcomers will settle in Quebec under the Canada-Quebec accord.
However, if the member thinks that Canada should reduce the number of newcomers for the entire country because Quebec wants to make sure that it is able to integrate newcomers in its province, then that is another story. Does the member think that Canada should reduce the number of newcomers for the entire country?
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- May/11/23 10:41:02 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my dear colleagues for giving me the opportunity to take part in the important debate we are having here in the House of Commons today.
I would also like to thank my colleagues for their support as I attempt to improve the quality of my French. Members from every party have helped me learn this new language. When I arrived in Ottawa after the 2015 election, I did not speak French. In fact, all I could say was, “bonjour, je m'appelle Sean”. Before, when my colleagues asked how I was doing, I sometimes forgot how to answer that question in French. Thanks to my colleagues' support, I am now able to convey simple ideas in French.
Today, I would like to share an idea that is simple, yet important for Canada's future. It is the idea that we can welcome newcomers to areas across the country and still protect the French language and francophone culture. Not only can we do it, we actually are doing it.
During the debate, I will make several points.
First, immigration is essential for growing our economy and offsetting the demographic decline caused by population aging. It is very important to continue to welcome new immigrants, while protecting the demographic weight of francophone individuals and communities.
Before getting to the crux of my speech, let me be very clear: The Century Initiative does not dictate federal government policy. I am the one who tabled the immigration levels in the House, I am the one who made a commitment to organizations that represent francophone communities, and I am the one who signed the agreements.
I will now address the importance of immigration for Canada's economy.
It is essential that Canada welcome new immigrants, and the current situation in this country is very interesting. To understand why Canada needs to favour people with skills that are useful to the economy, it is essential to understand the current economic context.
Like other countries, after the COVID-19 pandemic, that is, following the reopening of the borders and the economic recovery, Canada entered a major recovery period. There have never been as many workers in Canada as there are now. Many people have good jobs. The GDP is higher today than it was before the pandemic. Despite this success, there are currently more than 700,000 vacant positions in our economy. Employers are seeking workers to help them grow their businesses.
Without immigration, Canada cannot maximize its economic potential. Immigration is extremely important because there are not enough Canadian workers to fill the vacant positions, either today or in the future. It is important not only for the economy, but for society as a whole. It is especially important that Canada offset the demographic decline caused by population aging.
Fifty years ago in Canada, there were seven workers for every retiree. Today, that number is close to three workers, and when I am ready to retire, I think it will be only two.
Immigration is essential for us to welcome people who have the skills we need and face demographic challenges. If we do not change our approach to immigration, it will not be possible to make the investments needed to ensure the delivery of public services.
Immigration is very important, as it allows us to welcome the people who have the skills we need. The people who are currently participating in our economy have skills, and it is essential that we find other people who have the same skills. Given our aging population, we need more employees to ensure the delivery of health care. There are many reasons for welcoming new immigrants. They make an enormous and essential contribution to the vitality of our communities.
I can give an example of a situation that happened in my riding. Right after the 2015 elections, we lost a school because many families were leaving the community.
Mr. Speaker, I think you know what I am talking about, because you are from Nova Scotia. Young people were leaving Nova Scotia to find work in other provinces and countries. I am familiar with the situation. I myself worked in Alberta for five years because I was looking for a good job.
Right after the 2015 elections, my community also lost a mental health professional. My community lost mental health services. It was very difficult for the community to lose the school and health care services. However, the people in my community can find another school and another doctor. It will not be easy, but it is possible.
That said, consider the consequences for francophone communities facing the same problems. When I visited with francophone communities, I saw that finding a doctor who speaks French is not just difficult; it is impossible. When schools close, people cannot simply decide to attend school in a neighbouring community. If the neighbouring community is anglophone, it is impossible for these families to live in French or have access to day cares where people speak French. Students cannot study in French. Customers cannot be served in French at the store. For these communities, this is a matter of identity.
It is extremely important to continue ensuring that people who live in francophone communities can live their lives in French. We know that the French language is in decline in North America. It is very important that we continue to ensure the sustainability of francophone communities and to put in place conditions conducive for these people to speak and live in French.
It is not just a matter of ensuring the sustainability of francophone communities. It is a reality now. I am very proud to be the minister who welcomed the greatest number of newcomers to Canada, in general, but I am also very proud to be the minister who achieved the 4.4% target for the first time in 20 years.
We are working closely with stakeholders to ensure that francophone communities have the capacity to accommodate people who have essential skills and language skills. The fact that we have achieved these targets is not an accident or a coincidence. It is the clear result of the decisions our government made last year. Our government put in place a plan to welcome francophones. We introduced an action plan for official languages with the necessary investments to ensure its success. We also continue to make investments in organizations that provide settlement services. We are making sure that these people not only come to Canada, but also integrate into their communities.
We continue to hold events to recruit and promote Canada as a destination to people who are looking for opportunities in another country.
We continue to propose essential solutions for protecting the demographic weight of francophones across Canada. We are making changes to the express entry program so that francophone and bilingual applicants get more points.
The next changes include new paths in the express entry program exclusively for francophones. This initiative is very important to me because, if we want to increase the number of workers in this country, we absolutely need to support French speakers to protect their demographic weight as well. It is essential for the future of francophone communities in Canada. All this is possible thanks to our government's immigration policies and decisions. We are already seeing the results.
Of course, the situation in Quebec is different. The federal government has an agreement with the province of Quebec. Under this immigration agreement, Quebec is responsible for establishing immigration thresholds and the number of new immigrants arriving in the province each year. It is also up to Quebec to choose the immigrants it welcomes for economic reasons. That decision is not under the federal government's jurisdiction. All this is set out in the agreement with the Quebec government.
The federal government's role is to process applications, verify admissibility and ensure safety, but it is up to the province of Quebec to determine the number of immigrants, assess their language skills and choose which immigrants will be welcomed based on their skills and how they impact the economy. These decisions are made by Quebec.
In order to support the integration and francization of new immigrants to Quebec, the federal government gives Quebec almost $700 million a year. That is a good thing. When I meet with Quebec entrepreneurs, they ask me to continue welcoming workers. It is essential to protect jobs in their companies.
There is currently a labour shortage within and outside of Quebec. One does not have to listen to me or look up what Statistics Canada has to say to understand that there is a labour shortage. One only has to walk down main street in every community in Canada to see the extent of the situation. Employers need workers to help the economy recover after the COVID‑19 pandemic. It is very beneficial for Canada to welcome people into our communities.
I have spoken with my international counterparts. It is not right that Canada is the only country that is having such a hard time processing applications more quickly to meet the needs of communities. It would be a good idea to seize this opportunity and to have the courage to welcome people with essential skills so we can ensure a bright future for Canada's economy and communities.
It is important for me to explain the many reasons why I will be voting against this motion. First, I am being accused of following the Century Initiative. Once again, I want to be very clear. The Century Initiative did not establish the Government of Canada's plan. My plan includes many other policies like the Century Initiative. For example, there is a whole chapter on francophone immigration, which is very important. There is a plan to welcome the most vulnerable people. I also think that it is very important to ensure that the smaller provinces are able to welcome newcomers. Normally, newcomers prefer to settle in Canada's bigger cities.
Whoever looks at the details of my plan, including its immigration thresholds, can see that we are protecting the accommodation capacity of the Atlantic and northern regions, and that we are allowing the francophone community to benefit from immigration while also protecting its accommodation capacity.
It is not right for the Bloc Québécois to hide behind the Century Initiative and say that Canada needs to reduce the number of new immigrants. In my opinion, that is not right. If they think that Canada should reduce the number of immigrants, let them just say so. The House is the best place to hold that debate, but today's debate is a red herring, because the plan is the government's, not the Century Initiative's. The signature on the dotted line is mine.
I began learning French after the 2015 elections. I learned a lot of things. I am not perfectly bilingual, but I can hold a conversation. It turns out that I did not only learn a new language. I also learned the importance of protecting the francophone community's continued ability to exist. I learned the importance of protecting francophones' ability to live their lives in French, to live with their children in their francophone communities.
People who vote in favour of the motion are voting against Canada's ability to welcome the most vulnerable and the people with essential skills for our economy.
I have a message for Acadians, Quebeckers, Franco-Ontarians, people who live in francophone communities in western and northern Canada: I work every day to protect their ability to speak French, to ensure the sustainability of their communities and to protect their ability to live their lives in French. I worked on it today, I will work on it tomorrow, and I will continue to work on it in the future.
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- May/11/23 11:00:13 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify something. There is a reason why Prince Edward Island has four seats in the House of Commons. We have an obligation, under the Constitution, to maintain that number of seats in the House, and so does the other place.
Any immigration policy will have more profound implications than that. The policy affects more than just the number of seats in the House of Commons. There are consequences for the people who settle in our communities. In smaller communities, they might have to deal with schools and businesses closing. In that case, people who want go about their lives in a francophone or anglophone community might have to leave that community forever.
The solution, in my view, is to continue to adjust the immigration plan and take the living conditions in our communities into account. I will continue welcoming more immigrants because right now it is a good thing. The plan can be revised if and when conditions change in our communities. For now, this is a good plan for Canada.
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- May/11/23 11:02:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a clear answer because, today, a new applicant coming through the federal express entry system is expected to take six months. The posted timelines reflect applications that may have been approved recently but that may have been in the system for a significant period of time.
There is presently an anomaly because we have gotten through the majority of the cases that have been in our inventory, having now processed the cases for people who were seeking to come to Canada when the borders were closed. There is, if not quite a false statistic on the website, a statistic that does not necessarily do a good job of explaining the anomaly. We are going to be moving toward projecting forward-looking processing times so people will better understand how long it will take for an applicant to get here.
I am pleased to share that our family reunification system, our family economic streams, our study permits and work permits are more or less all back to the standard of service that we enjoyed before the pandemic. I would be pleased to continue this conversation, should the member wish to understand the timelines under different immigration streams, after we finish the debate today.
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- May/11/23 11:04:54 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her service before politics to support newcomers in the community that she calls home.
There are a number of different reasons why I think we need to embrace immigration if we are going to benefit from what diversity can offer our communities. In particular, there is a reason we need to continue to bring more French-speaking newcomers to communities across Canada.
In general terms, I reflect on the experience of my own community. Thankfully, though things have changed since 2015, we still have not seen the schools return, and we still have not seen mental health services return, but we have seen more people move into communities, including newcomers, as a lot more people have moved home. We are not talking about more schools closing. We are talking about building houses to welcome all the people who would like to come join our communities.
For francophone communities, supporting people who speak French is critically important. Without immigration, when businesses shut down, when schools are closed, it will be impossible for francophones to continue living their lives in French. They will be forced to leave the community to seek employment in other communities.
It is extremely important that we take into account the impact on different communities, including linguistic minority communities. If we continue to support the ability for francophone communities to attract newcomers, it will allow them to raise their families in French, in the language of their choice, in their community. This is the kind of thing that will keep people on board with our immigration policy if they see a future for themselves in it. By living in a community that embraces newcomers and diversity, I can say from personal experience that it has made my community a more vibrant and dynamic place to call home.
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- May/11/23 11:07:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for her question.
This is a challenge not just for Quebec businesses, but also for francophone communities across the country, where it is a big problem. When touring the community of Saint‑Quentin in northern New Brunswick, we introduced a new pilot program for essential workers. When I visited the plants that were using this immigration program, I saw with my own eyes how much the arrival of these newcomers benefited both the businesses and the community.
That is just as true in Quebec. When people arrive in a community, especially in a rural area, the community can continue to have positive experiences, to live in French and to give children the opportunity to do so as well.
It is very hard when a plant closes for good, because families leave the community. Often, immigrants are then forced to go to an anglophone community and thus lose the possibility of having the next generation continue speaking French.
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- May/11/23 2:19:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important that we commemorate Canada's history, but let us not pretend that the only place we are able to do that is inside the pages of our passport.
I know about Vimy Ridge because I have read books about it, researched it independently and talked to veterans who served in the military. I know that Brigadier-General A. E. Ross said, “in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation”, but it is not because a picture was included in a passport.
We are going to continue to take opportunities to commemorate our nation's heroes. Whether that includes statues on Parliament Hill or Viola Desmond on the $10 bill, or whether we seek other opportunities to commemorate our history, we will continue to engage Canadians along the way and make decisions that celebrate our nation's heroes.
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- May/11/23 2:20:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would caution the opposition leader against claiming that he somehow has a monopoly on caring about Terry Fox. He should talk to the member for Oakville about her advocacy for Terry Fox and the money she has helped secure for cancer research.
Terry Fox lives on in the memories of Canadians because of the courage he demonstrated during the Marathon of Hope and in—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/11/23 2:21:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would caution all members of this House against claiming some sort of a monopoly on caring about our nation's heroes.
Terry Fox is loved by Canadians, not because his picture was in the passport but because of the courage he demonstrated during the Marathon of Hope, and the research funding that has come to help advance care for cancer patients. My family has been affected by cancer, and I still celebrate Terry Fox's contributions to our national discourse. Let us look at the advocacy of the member for Oakville on Terry Fox's behalf to help secure funding to perpetuate his legacy and continue to improve cancer research.
We can commemorate our heroes in a number of ways, and we are committed to doing that.
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- May/11/23 2:28:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear: the Century Initiative plan is not our government's policy. It is very important to welcome people who work in our communities and make an essential contribution to improving Canadians' quality of life. It is possible, important and essential to welcome newcomers while protecting francophones' demographic weight. Not only is it possible, it is this government's policy right now.
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- May/11/23 2:36:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to let the hon. member know that from the very time we formed government we have been laser-focused on making life more affordable for Canadians. I note that at every step along the way when we have cut taxes for the middle class or delivered benefits directly to families, the Conservatives have reliably been there to vote against the measures we put forward.
With respect to some of the comments that are coming from the Conservative Party right now about money that is being earned by Canadians is so-called being taken away, the reality is that those are the funds that go toward ensuring Canadians have access to the Canada pension plan. Those are the funds that go toward making sure Canadians have access to employment insurance if they fall upon hard times.
We will defend the social programs that keep my neighbours well during difficult—
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- May/11/23 2:40:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. It is obvious that my friend across the way did not read the federal government's plan for immigration levels. If he had read the chapter on francophone immigration, then he would know that it is possible to create a system that will welcome the largest number of francophone newcomers in the history of Canada. That is the government's plan right now.
However, the situation in Quebec is very different. Quebec now has the power to set the level of newcomers to Quebec. Quebec has the power to choose every person who comes to Quebec through the economic class.
Now—
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- May/11/23 2:51:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to share with members of the House that my hon. colleague is deeply mistaken.
With regard to the ability of Canadians to get their passports in a timely way, I want to credit the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development for her work to eliminate the backlogs so Canadians can get passports for travel where and when they were needed. With respect to the changes to the passport, the designs were approved a number of years ago, before there were any considerations of backlogs and passport applications.
It is very important that no party in the House claims a monopoly over owning Canada's history. Every member of the House cares deeply about our nation's history and is proud of the country. We will continue to commemorate it in the years ahead.
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- May/11/23 2:56:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very important that nobody in the House claims a monopoly over caring for our national heroes, such as Terry Fox, or claims a monopoly over caring about our nation's history.
The reality is that over the past 10 years, an exercise to consult Canadians was taken on to understand what people wanted reflected in their travel document. We have themes recognizing the different regions of Canada, our natural environment, the contributions of indigenous Canadians and of course improved security features.
The Canadian passport is one of the most powerful travel documents. It allows one access to almost every country in the world. It is something we should be proud of. We can protect the security of our passport and celebrate our history at the same time.
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- May/11/23 3:10:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for her advocacy on behalf of the Canadian Pakistani community, as well as my other caucus colleagues who recently approached me to discuss this issue.
I have good news. Today an application for a TRV from a Pakistani applicant is expected to take 60 days. We anticipate, very soon, returning to the 30-day standard we enjoyed before the pandemic.
The website shows an extended period because we have gotten through such a significant volume, about 80,000 cases in recent months, that we are now tackling applications that were submitted during the pandemic when travel was not allowed. That is why we see an inflated wait time on the website, but the truth is things have improved dramatically and people should expect timely resolutions to their immigration decisions.
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