- 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/30/24 2:45:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, he is going to blame immigrants for rising food prices. Come on, we have to be reasonable.
It is clear that Canada is going to play a role, and it must bear some responsibility in all this. That is why we are working closely with Quebec to send asylum seekers to other provinces. There is work to be done at several levels. It is a job I look forward to working on with Ms. Fréchette.
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- May/30/24 2:43:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, it appears that the member opposite is asking the question of the wrong legislature.
It should be noted that under the Canada-Quebec agreement, Quebec holds the majority of the power to select francophone immigrants. It has the power and the ability to do so. Considering the $5.2 billion it has received in transfers since 2015, it also has the financial capacity to do it all and without accountability, either.
When it comes to accountability, Quebeckers are the ones who need to demand answers.
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- Feb/8/24 11:17:39 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the survey in question shows conclusively that immigrants are good for the economy.
There is much left unsaid by the Bloc Québécois. They ask us to revise the targets, but I think what they mean is we should lower them without consulting the government of Quebec. I believe they should make more of an effort if they wish to have a reasoned discussion of the issue.
I ask the members of the Bloc Québécois if they would like to help solve the problem instead of being armchair quarterbacks, and tell me whether the integration capacity covers the labour shortage of some 175,000 workers in Quebec, a shortage that also affects the rest of Canada. They do not seem to consider this factor in their analysis and demands.
I ask this question and I await their answer.
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- Feb/6/24 2:58:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it would be useful to point out that, since 2015, Quebec has received $4.4 billion under the Canada-Quebec accord. That is not an insignificant amount of money. It is earmarked for welcoming immigrants and is put towards the services Quebec uses to welcome immigrants and help them integrate under the Canada-Quebec accord. The amount was $300 million in 2015 and it is now $700 million, regardless of immigration levels. The Bloc is being intellectually dishonest when it claims that we are not paying up. They are constantly picking fights.
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- Feb/1/24 2:42:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we can hear the members laughing, but yesterday in the House, the leader of the Bloc Québécois compared immigrants to heat pumps. Then, during my announcement of more than $300 million to help house refugees, he was talking about social housing. They are not taking this seriously. It is an issue that needs to be taken seriously.
We are not negotiating with the federal member for Beloeil—Chambly, the leader of the Bloc Québécois. We are negotiating with a serious government, the Quebec government.
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- Feb/1/24 2:27:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is interesting. The Bloc does not want to blame immigrants, yet they are telling us to amend our plans.
I would like to ask the Bloc members from rural ridings to go and visit the farmers in their ridings to see where they are finding workers. Would they want to reduce the number of temporary workers?
The Bloc members need to answer the question, because it is a very important one that needs an answer.
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- Dec/12/23 2:59:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member may be disappointed to learn that we have a good relationship with Quebec. Last week, we spoke in a reasoned and reasonable way about reasoned and reasonable immigration to Quebec within the context of the Canada-Quebec accord that gives Quebec more than $700 million to do the work that falls within its jurisdiction, which is to take in immigrants, especially French-speaking immigrants.
Asylum seekers are a shared responsibility. We have to work on this together, because it is a challenge for all western societies. Canada and Quebec are ready to take up the challenge.
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- Dec/4/23 2:41:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is not a damn job; it is a job that I love.
It is true that there are challenges associated with the migration flows that are affecting the entire world. Roughly 100 million people have been displaced around the world. That is a record number. Canada is also dealing with a record number of migrants.
In the past year, we have made progress and reduced the backlogs and delays. Some challenges still remain, but I think that Canada and Quebec are capable of overcoming them.
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- Nov/27/23 2:30:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious issue. This is the first time I have heard the Bloc Québécois say that it would like more immigrants. I could tell them more about it, but let us have a meaningful discussion on the issue.
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- Nov/24/23 11:28:12 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have stated very publicly that we need to sit down with Quebec and our respective finance ministers to sort all this out and put all our cards on the table. If we included all the extra amounts that we have invested in the Canada-Quebec accord, Quebec would definitely be the one getting the bill.
That is something I hesitate to discuss in public. I would rather sit down with my provincial colleagues and talk this over privately. We need to sort this out. Our goal is to work together on behalf of immigrants and asylum seekers.
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- Nov/23/23 2:45:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will give the same answer to the same question. Let us not forget that, in addition to the lump sum social transfer that is sent to all of the provinces, we are sending more and more money to Quebec every year under the Canada-Quebec accord, regardless of the levels in Quebec.
Quebec has a role to play in welcoming asylum seekers and all immigrants. We are prepared to sit down with Quebec to have a mature discussion between two responsible governments.
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- Nov/6/23 2:41:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have never spoken to McKinsey. However, I have spoken to Canadians who want more people from abroad, who want more immigrants to come here to work in factories, to work in the fields, in areas represented by the Bloc Québécois. Clearly, we need immigration.
Five hundred thousand is a reasonable target. That is for three years. It has nothing to do with what McKinsey says.
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- Oct/26/23 2:29:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as a Quebecker, I have my opinions on immigration. I am in favour of immigration. There will be plenty of time to talk about this on November 1. It is important for members to remember one thing: We need immigrants here in Canada. We need to build houses and we need 100,000 construction workers. They will not all necessarily come from here, so we need immigration.
If the Bloc Québécois is against immigration, then they should say so.
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