Lena Metlege Diab

“Mr. Chair, earlier this week, we had the official opposition challenging the Minister of Immigration, asking, “Are you going to be here on Thursday? Are you going to be here for the four hours on Thursday?” Do members remember those questions? Where are the Conservatives now? They have completely disappeared. I guess they ran out of questions. I am surprised by the games the Conservatives continue to play on such an important issue of immigration. If they were genuine and sincere about the issue of immigration, surely they would do what they were asking of the minister and actually have a physical presence during the estimates process. It tells me they have run out of ideas, they have run out of questions and that it is nothing more than a game to them. We saw that demonstrated when the Conservatives talked about this whole two-tier justice system. There is one justice system. To try to imply something different, as the member from Calgary often does, is to feed into the far right of the Conservative Party to try to make immigration look bad. I find that unfortunate. Real Progressive Conservatives recognize the true value of immigration. Canada was built on immigration, much like the minister said at the beginning of the debate: We are all immigrants except for first nations. It is just a question of whether someone is second-generation, third-generation or however many generations they may be. We value and appreciate the contributions that immigrants have made over the years. As the Prime Minister has indicated, and as the Minister of Immigration has done well in executing, we are stabilizing immigration. We recognize the importance of doing that. Earlier, I was able to give a bit of a historic perspective as to what led us to where we are today. Now we have a minister who is actually putting into place policies that are stabilizing and ultimately delivering in areas of concern in the different regions of our nation. I started to conclude my remarks last time talking about the importance of collaboration. I know the minister has already made reference to the issue of doctors and health care workers, and the creation of a program that enhances the quality of our health care. We are getting more doctors through an initiative that she has brought forward on behalf of the government. Unlike the Conservatives, we still believe in immigration and the value of immigration. We do not want to ramp up an issue and promote rage among the population, when, in fact, things are getting under control. We are moving forward. There are initiatives that are making a difference in working with other jurisdictions. That is why we have the doctors program. We can take a look at the number of provincial nominee applicants coming in under this government and the minister. They are reaching every region. Through that program, we are able to assist in meeting the types of labour demands in certain areas. I met with the mayor of Winnipeg a few days ago, and I met with the Winnipeg transit union. Both emphasized that there are a number of transit drivers they want to keep because they spent $30,000 in training some of these temporary workers. We recommended to the province to use the nominee program to settle them. That was done in part, and now we understand that there might be another 25 or 30 workers. As the minister has explained, we have a process, and if we follow the process, not only would we be able to sustain manageable numbers, but we could also build a Canada— Mr. Chair, yes, I do have a question. I am disappointed. Is the minister not discouraged, given that you have been here from the beginning right to the end, and when you look across the way, you see that the benches are absolutely empty? I am disappointed. Are you disappointed?”