“I don't need to answer your specific question. I think you should already know what I think.”
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.
“You still didn't answer the specific question. Did you cross this t and dot this i?”
“I'm defending the existing law. This law gives us more control over citizenship. That's good.”
“The immigration system is a mess. There are too many people and not enough houses or doctors. Some colleges just want money. The start-up visa program is broken too. People paid us and now they wait 10 years. Other countries are better. The minister should fix this.”
“I want to look like I'm doing something about the fraud everyone has heard about in this immigration program. To do that, I'm emphasizing how I've talked about the problem transparently in public. But notice I don't give any specifics on how I'll actually fix the underlying issues - I just keep repeating that we've 'paused' the program. My real goal here is to sound competent and in control, not to commit to any difficult policy changes that would stop the fraud.”
“You just admitted there's corruption in your department. Instead of fixing it, you're just shutting down the program. I'm calling you out on this because it's a big mess. Did you even audit the subcontractor you hired to check these organizations?”
“Don't put words in my mouth. The program was paused because it was uncontrollable. I don't want to admit that my department did anything wrong. I'm going to blame the high volume of applications instead.”
“You let the program get out of control. IRCC found problems but you didn't fix them. A huge backlog built up under your watch. I think you messed up.”
“I'm the minister and I'm saying the department is looking at it.”
“The minister's own website says it takes 10 years to approve start-up visas in Canada. It's much faster in other countries. That's bad! Isn't the minister bothered by that?”
“Okay, yes, the website does say it takes 10 years to get a start-up visa in Canada. But 80% of applications are processed within our service standards! See, we're hitting our own targets. And we're doing our best to train staff to keep up with demand. What more do you want from us?”
“I'm trying to get you to say that some people get special treatment. You think Canadians will be angry about that.”
“I'm going to keep talking so I don't have to answer the question. I want you to think I care without giving you a real answer.”
“I want the minister to admit that taxpayers will pay more for this than they get themselves.”
“I don't want to say who's paying. The program is normal just like other programs.”
“Does the minister know her program stops paying once the provinces start? I want her to admit there's a gap.”
“These measures are temporary. I want you to think the provinces will cover these people soon.”
“I want you to explain why you called criminals 'vulnerable people'. That label makes no sense to me.”
“Criminals should be punished. I don't want to talk about my weird word choice.”
“You said something weird. I want to make it look like you're soft on crime.”