“You're dodging my question. I asked something specific. Do you know the answer or not?”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
Recent debates
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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 don't want to answer directly. I'll point you to some documents instead.”
“I want to know how much taxpayer money you spent on hotels. It's a simple question, but you won't give me a straight answer.”
“I won't say how many hotels. We gave the money to cities instead. We call it something else now.”
“You won't give me a straight answer. Everyone knows cities bought real estate for asylum claimants. Who gets the money when they sell it?”
“I don't know what your problem is. We give money to municipalities for asylum claimants because they need it. Would you rather have people on the streets? We're helping and we brought in a bill. There's lots of stuff.”
“I'm trying to put you on the spot minister. Why won't you admit French is in trouble in Quebec?”
“I want to look like I'm doing something without giving any specifics.”
“I want to avoid the question and just repeat that our government really cares a lot about French.”
“I want to put the current government on record about whether they admit French is in real decline.”
“You already know Quebec immigration rules don't come from us. I'm not saying anything else.”
“I want you to admit there is a problem. Then I could blame you for not fixing it.”
“I'm filling time by saying nice things about French. I am not saying anything new.”
“Why won't the minister admit the system is overwhelmed? There are too many people coming in.”
“Thank you for your question about Quebec's immigration challenges. Quebec is a nice place and the people there make their own choices.”
“The budget for asylum seekers' health care will grow to $1.5 billion per year. That money comes from taxpayers. Should we spend all that money on non-citizens when our own citizens can't even get a doctor?”
“You're worried about asylum seekers costing too much. I already said Quebec got lots of money for it. And anyway, refugee claims are way down.”
“You take too much pride in destroying Canada's identity and values.”
“I don't want to answer that question. I'll just repeat something nice about language and Quebec instead.”
“I don't want to answer anything specific. I will just repeat some nice things about immigration and the economy instead.”