“I want to say some kind words to the minister and then stick to my prepared question. Does the minister think 15% youth unemployment is a big problem?”
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 want to look like I'm answering the question without giving a real answer. I'll say youth jobs are important, then fill time talking about a government program that spends money in every riding.”
“Approving visas for low-wage temporary foreign workers is bad. Youth unemployment is very high. The government program she talks about won't help.”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”
“I want to correct the minister's numbers. I think the government is giving out too many work permits to foreign workers this year.”
“We're already doing a good job controlling foreign workers. I don't think we need to change anything.”
“I want to make you look bad by highlighting a big increase in temporary foreign workers. I'm implying you're out of touch and uncaring toward Canadians.”
“I'm saying lots of words without giving an answer that actually addresses your numbers. I want you to think I'm informed and responsible because I threw in a fact about a mandate and the PBO.”
“You won't answer. You've added many foreign workers. The Prime Minister called it a failure. Do you agree?”
“I won't answer the question. I will list numbers to make me look good.”
“The number of temporary foreign workers is up and the minister shouldn’t lie about that. But about study permits, there are 153,000 fraud cases and only 2,000 are being investigated per year. At this rate, it will take 76 years to investigate them all. Is the minister fine with that?”
“I'm going to ignore the actual question about the massive backlog of fraud investigations. Instead I'll keep talking about how there are fewer student visas overall as if that answers it. Maybe if I throw out some innuendo about my questioner's motives, people will get distracted from the issue.”
“I want the minister to answer a hard question about fraud. Why aren't more people being prosecuted? The department should do more.”
“I don't like that. I want to cheer for our government. We made a law. We checked those cases.”
“You Liberals removed a rule that protected jobs. Now you must decide if it was good or if you regret it.”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”
“You're avoiding my question. Do you really think removing that protection was fine? How bad was the problem it was meant to solve?”
“I don't want to answer that question. Instead I'll talk about how great our budget is for skilled trades.”
“You can't answer my first question, so I'm asking you a harder one.”
“I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”