“I want to worry people that the government's immigration screening might be too weak to stop a disease outbreak. I'm using an upcoming soccer game to make my point.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
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A bill to make many changes to Canada's immigration and border control laws. During debate, Conservatives asked questions about specific cases and raised concerns about fraud, while the Liberal minister responded but often discussed unrelated topics like Canada Summer Jobs and praised a Liberal colleague.
“I'm not actually going to answer that question. Instead I will just remind everyone that my government held a press conference recently about immigration safety measures.”
“You didn't answer the question. A plane with someone who might have Ebola was sent to Canada. What are you actually doing to stop that from happening again?”
“I'm going to repeat the talking points about how we're coordinating with partners and taking steps, without actually saying what we've changed or how we're going to keep Ebola from being sent here again.”
“This big company said they don't need foreign workers anymore. But they're still hiring them. The government should stop that.”
“I'm filling time saying things everyone already knows.”
“I want you to publicly say you'll cancel those permits. The numbers you talk about are too high.”
“The rules are already tight. We made them tighter. That's my whole answer.”
“You caused this problem. Will you let provinces take over immigration so they can bring in fewer low-skilled people and put their own residents first for new jobs?”
“I want to sound like I'm on your side and doing something useful. We have meetings!”
“You didn't answer the question. Let me ask again directly: should every province get the same immigration power if they ask, or do you play favorites?”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”
“I want to point out the minister's non-answer and hint it will annoy a province.”
“I want to insist everything is fine and hope the question goes away.”
“If the provinces ask to control their own immigration, will you say yes? I want to catch you in front of everyone if you don't.”
“I'm going to talk about percentages and years instead of answering the question.”
“That sounds like a lot of screw-ups to me. Is the minister okay with that many cases of misconduct and wrongdoing?”
“I want to reassure Canadians that we take misconduct seriously. The department published the report on its own. We're being open about the problem.”
“I don't want to give a real answer. I will just say it was some.”
“You don't know the answer, so you're avoiding the question.”