“You let in too many immigrants, Quebec can't handle it, and you're breaking our deal. Do you even care about the Canada-Quebec accord?”
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 filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”
“Does Quebec get to use the notwithstanding clause to take back control of its own child care program from the Supreme Court or not?”
“I'm going to ignore your question and just say something nice about working with Quebec.”
“I want to complain about government spending. Asylum seekers get healthcare benefits even Canadians don't get. And many Canadians don't even have a family doctor. I'm asking if the minister thinks this is okay.”
“This isn't my job. You should ask the province. I'm saying I work with them, but I'm not really answering the question.”
“I'm trying to put words in your mouth to make you look bad.”
“Interjurisdictional issues are hard. Let me change the subject to something that sounds good.”
“How can the minister claim success when the numbers are so high? I don't think the current system works.”
“Good news! The number is lower than before. Don't worry about the problem.”
“They admit they had a problem. Why fix it now? There must be a problem.”
“I'm filling time by listing things we did. Don't notice I'm not saying why it matters.”
“I want to blame the other party for a big backlog.”
“I don't want to give a clear yes or no answer. I want to say my department works hard.”
“I'm appealing to language anxiety. I want Quebec voters to blame the federal government for immigration problems.”
“The minister didn't say anything about French being in decline. I'm trying to put words in her mouth.”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”
“I'm the minister in charge of immigration. Immigration is good and important. I'm managing it in a controlled way. Immigration numbers are stable and won't go too high. There are less temporary residents and students than before. We made some changes to limit them. Asylum claims are also down. We're controlling immigration and targeting the high-skilled workers we need. The budget for my department is lower this year. We're managing immigration in a controlled and sustainable way. We're keeping the system fair and secure. Other countries are looking to Canada as an example. Immigration will keep helping our economy by targeting workers we need in important sectors.”
“We Liberals won the election. Our immigration minister is doing a great job. The Conservatives used to like immigration but now they don't. They filibustered our bill to fix immigration. But now we passed another bill. I went with our minister to meet people about immigration. We're working with the provinces on it.”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”