“I want the minister to give a simple answer and not dodge the question.”
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.
“How many more people can we add before our health care system breaks?”
“I'm trying to put you on the spot with a gotcha question about our health care system.”
“Would kicking out 74,000 failed refugees free up some of our health care for Canadians?”
“Why are you giving free health care to people we already said no to?”
“Why should taxpayers have to give free stuff to a failed asylum claimant when most Canadians pay for that same stuff themselves?”
“Stop dodging. Does the immigration minister want to give luxury health benefits to rejected asylum claimants, yes or no?”
“What if someone doesn't pay the fees the government charges?”
“Do you really think rejected asylum seekers should get luxury health benefits at a 70% discount? That's a terrible idea.”
“You mentioned helping the most vulnerable, right? So, should a refugee charged with rape still get physio paid by taxpayers? Answer that.”
“I want to emphasize that the minister didn't know how many hotels the government is paying for to house asylum seekers. This could make her look unprepared or uninformed.”
“You said no more hotels for asylum seekers. But we know of hotels bought through the government. How many? Just give a number.”
“The government sent money to cities to house asylum seekers. Are you saying the cities didn't spend it on real estate?”
“I don't like that the government spends tax money to buy hotels for asylum claimants. I want to know what rules let cities use that money to buy real estate.”
“You're dodging my question. I asked something specific. Do you know the answer or not?”
“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.”
“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'm trying to put you on the spot minister. Why won't you admit French is in trouble in Quebec?”
“I want to put the current government on record about whether they admit French is in real decline.”
“I want you to admit there is a problem. Then I could blame you for not fixing it.”