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Immigration

During question period, members questioned the immigration minister about changes to rules around temporary foreign workers. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said the changes remove what she called the last safeguard against employer immigration fraud and favour businesses over Canadian workers. Liberal MP Leslie Church replied that the Conservatives’ characterization was inaccurate, saying use of the temporary foreign worker program fell 50% over the past year, that such workers make up under 1% of the workforce, and that the changes are aimed at bringing in highly skilled workers to fill urgent job needs.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

2 statements

Michelle Rempel Garner

Conservative
“I oppose this immigration policy. It removes the last rule stopping companies from committing immigration fraud. It only helps businesses instead of Canadian workers.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want every person in this place to listen to what the immigration minister just said. She just said this: Scrapping this last safeguard is “good for businesses”. It is good for the corporations. We need policy that is good for Canadian workers. That is what we need. This policy will scrap the last safeguard against corporate fraud in immigration in this country. It is unconscionable. How can she defend it?

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Leslie Church

Liberal

Linked statement

“The Conservatives are wrong about our immigration changes. Use of the temporary foreign worker program dropped by half last year, and these workers make up less than one percent of our workforce. Our changes are about bringing in highly skilled, top-earning workers to fill urgent job needs.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it must be a rough day on opposition benches when the Conservatives take aim at Canada’s immigration system and TFWs in ways that they know are incorrect. They know that, for the temporary foreign worker program, its use is down 50% in the last year and TFWs make up less than 1% of our workforce. However, the changes the government introduced are not about that. They are about highly skilled, top-wage earners coming into this country in fields where we have an immediate workforce need. This is the talent and skills we want to attract, and that is what we are doing.

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