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Business of Supply

This was a Committee of the Whole examination of the immigration minister’s spending plans, where Conservative members used their questions to press the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship on asylum numbers, border screening, visa decisions, fraudulent immigration consultants, temporary foreign workers, and the removal of people with no legal status. The minister pointed to falling asylum claim numbers, cooperation with provinces to relocate refugees, enforcement actions including the removal of 23,000 people last year, and Bill C-12 as a measure to further reduce asylum claims. Liberal members also used some questions to highlight immigration’s economic benefits and summer jobs for youth.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

462 statements

Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“Our government is spending money on police to protect Canadians. We have cut refugee health coverage and added copays.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, I am proud to say that this government is investing in law enforcement. This government is protecting Canadians. That is our priority. We have reduced the IFHP coverage. We have instituted copay as well. The PBO has confirmed—

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Dan Mazier

Conservative
“A convicted rapist and murderer who had his asylum claim rejected can still get government health benefits like speech therapy. I want the minister to tell us if he thinks that is right.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, William Imona-Russel was a rejected asylum claimant who raped two women and murdered a 20-year-old girl while still in Canada. This rapist would qualify for luxury health benefits like speech therapy under the Liberal government. Does the minister think that is okay?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“Canada deported 23,000 people this past year. We work with border officers and police, and we are hiring more than 1,000 new officers to keep Canadians safe.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, the Canada Border Services Agency has deported 23,000 people this past year. We work with the CBSA and with our law enforcement. We are investing in over 1,000 more officers to ensure that we protect Canadians.

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Dan Mazier

Conservative
“The minister did not answer my question. Does she think it is okay for this rapist to get luxury health benefits?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, the minister did not answer the question. Does she think it is okay for this rapist to qualify for luxury health benefits?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“I do not understand what the member is asking about. He needs to clarify if he means temporary support for vulnerable people before provinces take over the funding.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, I am not sure what my colleague is referring to. Is he referring to coverages that are interim for essential services for vulnerable people before they transition to provincial funding? He is going to have to confirm that.

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Dan Mazier

Conservative
“The minister says health care for asylum seekers is temporary. But the budget officer says it now lasts four years on average. That is not temporary.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, the minister claims that the interim federal health program is temporary, but the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that the average program coverage for asylum claimants is now four years under her watch. Is four years temporary?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“People who commit serious crimes should face serious consequences.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, again, let me get back to the question of criminality. Serious crimes deserve serious consequences, period.

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Dan Mazier

Conservative

Linked statement

“How many years does the minister think this temporary health program should last? Does he think it should last longer than four years?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, how many years would it take before the minister no longer considered the interim federal health program temporary? Is it longer than four years?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“We are saving money because fewer people are claiming asylum. Our new bill will bring those numbers down even more.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, the good news is that we are saving money because the asylum claim numbers are down. We will continue to bring them down with Bill C-12 to curb those numbers.

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Elizabeth May

Green
“I want to know if the government will stop treating the United States as a safe country for refugees. American officials have locked up more than 900 children for over 20 days.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Vancouver East. I want to say that moments of tonight’s discussions have been encouraging. After the horrors of the passage of Bill C-12 and international condemnation that it attacks refugee rights, it was so refreshing that some of the points I was going to make were made by the hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard on the long delays in getting people out of Gaza and out of the horrible situations found in Sudan. Also, it was wonderful to hear the words one wants to hear of compassion from a Canadian from the hon. member for Spadina—Harbourfront. My question to the minister is the following. Is the department considering that it is long since time to recognize that the United States is no longer a safe third country after ICE has arrested over 900 children who have been held for more than 20 days?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“I respect the member and appreciate her knowledge. To answer her question, the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada is still in place.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, this may be one of the first times that I have responded to the hon. member. I know she has been here for a while. I very much respect her as a person, but also as a parliamentarian. I know she has connections to my province of Nova Scotia. I really appreciate her wealth of knowledge here. She asked me a question about the STCA. The information I have is that the STCA continues to be partnered with Canada.

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Elizabeth May

Green
“My office is overwhelmed with people facing long delays from immigration officials. Security checks can take years. What is the department doing to speed up the process?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, I consider myself at least bicoastal, having spent much of my life on Cape Breton Island. I also went to Dalhousie law school, so I am at least partially Haligonian. I hear a lot of concerns from my constituents. My constituency office is pretty much overwhelmed with people who need help as they are caught up in the long delays of trying to get processed by IRCC. It is not uncommon for security assessments to take several years, and we know that a lot of the international partnering agencies that work with IRCC create tremendous bottlenecks. What is the department planning to do to expedite the process and to find a better balance between security and compassion?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“We can only process a set number of immigration applications each year because of our plan. We have been clear about this limit. We met our target last year, and we are on track to meet it again this year.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, my colleague raises a really good point that we have been talking with my department’s officials about, because we receive those concerns in my constituency office as well, as do all parliamentarians. I would say that part of the process is to do with the fact that we have a levels plan that is part of managing migration in Canada, permanent and temporary. As a result of that, we can only process so many per year. We have been clear and transparent with Canadians on what that number is. In fact, we met our target last year and we are on track to do so this year. It is part of the levels plan that we have that we can only process so much.

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Elizabeth May

Green
“We need skilled and talented people to move to Canada. If our immigration process is too slow and hard, these people will choose to go to other countries instead.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, we know that we want to attract, as the minister has mentioned tonight, skilled and talented people, new Canadians who bring the talents and skills we need, but this is not just a compassion exercise. This is also a steep competition. It was recently pointed out in Policy Options magazine, just last month, that Canada risks discovering too late that the real consequences of a burdensome and cumbersome process are not just delayed applications but losing eligible and desirable people, who go elsewhere.

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“We process 80% of immigration files on time, even though we receive a very high number of them. We are also working with our security and border agencies to cut down wait times for security checks.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, it is a very good point. In terms of the IRCC’s processing standards, 80% are processed in time within our standards. We have very high-demand volumes. To go back to the member’s earlier question on security screening, we are working very diligently with both CBSA and CSIS to bring those down.

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Elizabeth May

Green
“The home care worker immigration program opened in March 2025 and then paused shortly after. I want to know when it will start again.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, another big concern for my constituents is the home care worker program. The home care worker immigration pilot, as the minister knows, was opened in March 2025 and closed soon thereafter. We understand from her department that it has been paused. When will it restart?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“We paused the home care worker program because we got too many applications. We need to process the ones we already have before we take more.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, it is a very good question because many people use home care workers. We had to pause the program because we found an abundance of volume there, and we felt, as everybody does now, that it is just not fair to keep accepting more and more applications until we are able to process some of the ones that we have in the queue.

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Elizabeth May

Green
“It should not be so hard for permanent residents to get visitor visas for their parents to visit their grandchildren. Why are these visas taking so long?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, it should not be so difficult when people are living in Canada as permanent residents and want to bring their parents here on a TRV to visit their grandchildren. Why is that so bottlenecked?

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Lena Metlege Diab

Liberal
“We have set limits on how many temporary residents, like students and workers, we can accept. These limits are in the 2025 budget, and we are working to process people based on them.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, we have levels, in terms of the temporary resident population, that we can accept, whether it is students, workers or the people who are coming on humanitarian pathways. It is all calculated together. It is all in budget 2025, which was tabled in the House. We are working to process those numbers accordingly.

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Elizabeth May

Green
“I want to know why immigration takes so long. Does the department need more money or more workers to process people?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Chair, does the minister believe there is a lack of financial resources to her department? Is it a lack of people power that makes this a grinding misery for so many people who either are here and wanting their permanent residency or are overseas and wanting to come here?

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