- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
- Liberal
- Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $97,404.09
- Government Page
- May/28/24 3:00:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to highlight the Bloc Québécois member's passion for immigration. Obviously, when we talk about a willingness to take in newcomers, we are entitled to wonder why, for example, PRAIDA, Quebec's regional program for the settlement and integration of asylum seekers, has not increased its capacity for several years.
Obviously, this responsibility is shared between Quebec and Canada. That is what we are doing. We announced weeks ago that we were going to do it. We expect to see results, but it is a positive development in our relationship.
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- May/27/24 2:27:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is confusing capacity and willingness to integrate newcomers. What I said very clearly to my Quebec counterpart was that we would work together to distribute asylum seekers across the country. Ontario and Quebec have an excessive burden in terms of the number of asylum seekers relative to their population. We need the rest of the country to follow suit.
That is what we are going to do.
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- May/21/24 2:50:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the status quo is the Bloc Québécois doing nothing for 30 years, while we make $5.2 billion available to Quebec for French language training, with clear results.
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- Apr/30/24 2:46:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously we want to support French integration. We have provided $5.4 billion to Quebec since 2015, specifically for French integration classes in Quebec, and it is working well.
I know that the Bloc Québécois is perceived as a bickering machine, but I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the member opposite, who campaigned to ensure that spouses, partners, people who come here to study nursing will be able to stay here. This will increase the number of people who are here temporarily, but that is the good work we can do because the Quebec government demanded it.
We also worked with the Bloc Québécois to strengthen the health care system in Quebec.
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- Apr/29/24 2:45:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is the height of absurdity. It is typical of a Bloc Québécois member to stand up and read from a sheet, accusing other people of reading from a sheet even though they were not reading from a sheet.
That is the Bloc, through and through.
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- Apr/8/24 2:57:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois should pay attention to the news. We made it very clear that we are going to reduce the number of people who are here on a temporary basis from 7% to 5%.
I have a question for the Bloc Québécois members. Where would they make cuts? I want them to be very specific, because I know there are many temporary workers in their ridings who work with farmers. Are they going to tell the farmers to reduce their numbers?
I would ask them to give a clear, definitive and precise answer.
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- Mar/19/24 3:04:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, imagine being a doctor and being asked to accept 10 patients, but instead being sent 20. That is ridiculous, and that is the situation Quebec families find themselves in.
What I am hearing from the Bloc Québécois is contempt for Quebec families. What do they say to Quebeckers who want to be reunited with their loved ones from abroad? This is tearing Quebec families apart. It is tearing Canadian families apart.
We will work with Quebec to rectify the situation.
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- Feb/26/24 2:48:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very nice of the member to say I am six feet, three inches tall when I am actually only six feet, one inch and a hair.
Given his line of questioning, it seems to me that the Bloc Québécois is still looking to pick a fight with the federal government. However, that is not enough for it. Now it is looking for a fight with the Quebec government, and it has found one.
It is clear that the Bloc Québécois is not looking for relevant answers or reasonable solutions. It is just looking to pick fights.
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- Feb/6/24 3:00:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we see with this type of question that the Bloc Québécois is still trying to pick a fight. Obviously, as a responsible government we are at the negotiating table with the Government of Quebec. Do members know who is not? It is the Bloc Québécois. The Government of Quebec could invite Bloc members, but they are not welcome. Let them be the armchair quarterbacks that they are and let them listen to the two responsible governments that are in the process of fixing the problem.
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- Feb/5/24 2:26:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois members are acting like back-seat drivers, as they often do.
Quebec received $50 million, along with another $100 million to house asylum seekers, and that is this year alone.
The Bloc Québécois picks any old statistic it likes and draws whatever conclusion it chooses. The Bloc Québécois is just a bunch of back-seat drivers.
In the meantime, we will work with the Quebec government to do our job, and we will do that job of meeting the needs of asylum seekers properly and responsibly.
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- Feb/5/24 2:25:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is the only one who thinks that $70 million, $50 million and $100 million is just small change. That money is very important to the asylum seekers who will end up in Quebec.
As the member knows full well, we have a good relationship with the Government of Quebec. We are going to act the way a responsible government should and work with them. Quebec's finance minister will speak with Canada's Minister of Finance today. Our great relationship will carry on.
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- Dec/11/23 2:39:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, we will continue the conversation, but Bloc Québécois members will not be the first to know.
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- Dec/4/23 2:42:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Bloc Québécois is in power, it can make all the suggestions it wants. In the meantime, it will have to rely on the federal government.
Obviously, we can be a Canadian and Quebecker at the same time. I am a proud example. We already give more than $700 billion to Quebec, including for integration and francization. Yes, Quebec is doing its fair share and we have a great partnership. I think we can succeed as a country.
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- Nov/28/23 2:44:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would simply say that the Bloc Québécois is not Quebec.
I am treating this feigned outrage for what it is. If the Bloc Québécois ever has concrete demands, we can discuss them. I have a duty to speak with my responsible counterparts in the Government of Quebec. That is what I want to do. We will engage in two-way communication. This relationship is not a one-way street.
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- Nov/6/23 2:42:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that over the past year, Canadians have asked us to do more when it comes to integration capacity.
I am also hearing that we need immigration to grow our businesses. We know that there is still a labour shortage.
We need to take a more surgical approach to our targets. Let us look at what we tabled this week. I think that the Bloc Québécois will be comforted by that, unless it does not like immigration. If it does not, then it should say so loud and clear.
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- Nov/6/23 2:40:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find that comment strange. It keeps cropping up among Bloc Québécois members. They are so far out in left field that maybe they should take the weekend to go speak with some farmers and see if they need workers, because they do. These workers come from other countries. They should talk to Quebec businesses that need foreign workers. These workers come from other places. The Bloc should be working with us.
We are working with Quebec, and sooner or later the Bloc Québécois needs to get it.
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- Nov/1/23 2:50:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am not going to talk about astrology. The member opposite was in the House when I gave my speech yesterday but she must not have been paying attention or she would have heard the details of what we are doing with Quebec to ensure that there is co-operation and coordination.
We have disagreements, of course, but what she does not understand—and this is odd because the agreement has been in place for as long as the Bloc Québécois has existed, since 1991—is that this falls under Quebec jurisdiction.
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- Oct/31/23 2:45:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, the Bloc Québécois refuses to understand that the Canada-Quebec accord on immigration has been in place since 1991, which is just as long as the Bloc Québécois has been around. For some mysterious reason, it refuses to understand how this works.
Quebec has a voice. Canada has a voice. We are in constant talks with Quebec and, for that matter, with all the provinces. We are setting our thresholds. We have to respect jurisdictions, but it is clear that, on the Bloc Québécois side, there is a foolish refusal to understand what is at stake.
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- Oct/31/23 11:02:24 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of speculation in the Bloc Québécois member's question.
She obviously was not paying attention to what I said about the consultation we held as part of the review of our strategic plan, which we will be announcing within the next few hours. I am a little disappointed because she knows full well that Quebec has been making most of the decisions within its jurisdiction since the Canada–Québec Accord relating to Immigration and Temporary Admission of Aliens, which, as I said in my speech, has been around as long as the Bloc Québécois has, dating back to the early 1990s. I am sensing a bit of unwillingness to hear what I just said.
Clearly, there is always room for improvement in terms of communication and coordination, but that does not mean we always agree with Quebec. That is how relationships work. We each have a say. If she believes that we have not consulted properly, it is because she did not listen to my speech or because she is acting in bad faith.
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