“Who makes the refugee rules: Parliament, you, or the IRB chair? I want you to admit you're in charge.”
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're hiding behind the IRB's independence. I'm asking whether Parliament has any role left in setting refugee policy.”
“If someone who isn't a citizen commits a serious crime, should they have to leave Canada?”
“You dodged the question. I'll ask again more directly so it's harder to dodge. If Parliament says serious criminals must leave Canada, should the Immigration and Refugee Board do the opposite and help them stay?”
“Laws exist. The Immigration and Refugee Board might be doing the opposite. I want the minister to tell me if that's a problem.”
“I want to know if you signed off on these new rules that make it easier for serious criminals to delay being kicked out of Canada. Did you approve them yourself?”
“You're dodging the question. Tell me who really picks the IRB members.”
“That sounds official and complicated, but you're still the one who picks them. Do you like that your appointees can delay deporting criminals?”
“Will you stop using those rules to let dangerous criminals stay in our country longer?”
“You said these rules will be used sometimes. If a criminal stays in Canada because of them, will you take responsibility for that?”
“The government doesn't know when temporary residents leave. You can't dodge that by talking about independence.”
“Did you really have no way to track who leaves the country until now? Are you saying that's what was happening on your watch?”
“Why did you let in so many people without a way to track them leaving?”
“The government let in millions of people using a broken system. They expect 160,000 people per month to leave, but they can't confirm that they are. That's concerning.”
“I want you to admit the real numbers leaving, not just give happy talk.”
“You know the rules. How many undocumented people are in Canada? I think you are hiding the number.”
“Avoiding my question won't work. I want the number of undocumented people. I think there are many, and you don't have a real answer.”
“You don't want to answer my question, so I'll ask it again more directly. Are there half a million people in Canada who shouldn't be here?”
“You didn't answer the question. I'll guess my own number then: half a million. The government's contractor overcharged and underdelivered. Why are we still paying them?”
“You can't promise that, right? Your programs aren't perfect.”