SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 195 - May/11/23

May/11/23 1:45:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, in order to grow the population, we need people from all over. Quebec was created from immigrant populations. I encourage my colleagues to visit Grosse‑Île and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site, which is truly an extraordinary example of what immigration has brought to Quebec and to Canada as a whole.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

May/11/23 1:46:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be able to follow the Minister of National Revenue. If only I could speak as passionately as she does in French. What I really appreciated about the minister's speech is the fact that she talked about how immigration has been of such benefit for the province of Quebec, as it has been for the entire country. That is why I am a bit disappointed in the leader of the Bloc party. In essence, what he is doing is taking the very important issue of immigration and the impact that immigration has had from coast to coast to coast here in Canada in such a wonderful way. We are a country of immigrants. Immigration helps Canada grow into the future. All one needs to do is talk about where the needs are in many different ways in many different sectors of our country and one will quickly come to the conclusion that for Canada to continue to prosper in the future, immigration policy is so critically important. Today, we have the leader of the Bloc party trying to use this as an issue for the party's own personal cause, which is not in the best interest of Canada or Quebec. When I think of the French language and I think of my home province of Manitoba, today there are more people in Manitoba who speak French than there ever have been. If it were not for immigration, Manitoba's population would have been decreasing; it is because of immigration that our province has been growing. It is because of immigration that the French language today is spoken more in Manitoba. With respect to our communities, we should be looking at how our diversity enriches our society not only economically but also socially. Therefore, in terms of the French language, bilingual schools and so forth, it is fantastic when I see someone who is young of Filipino heritage or Indian heritage or someone who speaks Tagalog, English and French; or Punjabi, English and French. Even in terms of the caucus, we just heard from the Minister of National Revenue. We also have a member in the Quebec caucus of Sikh heritage who is francophone. We have had other members speak of the importance of immigration not only to Quebec but, I would suggest, to our entire country. That is the issue that I have with the Bloc: Why would the members try to use this issue and try to portray immigration in any way as a negative issue when it comes to our heritage and the very social fabric of our society? Then we have the Conservative leader, who responded to the resolution. It was hard to stay seated as he espoused the issues regarding immigration. It was hard to sit because I was the immigration critic in part during the Harper era when the leader of the Conservative Party was sitting around the cabinet table and Stephen Harper and that government decided to cut the parents and grandparents program completely. The leader of the Conservative Party is criticizing us on backlogs. The backlog for sponsoring a parent when Stephen Harper was the prime minister and the member was around the cabinet table was eight years. It got so bad that they actually said to the people of Canada that they were cancelling the program, so if someone wanted their mom and dad to come to Canada, they could forget it because they would not be able to come as landed immigrants. That is something the Conservative government did when he was sitting around the cabinet table, and he is talking about backlogs. I still remember the issue when—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:51:18 p.m.
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The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay is rising on a point of order.

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Mr. Charlie Angus

May/11/23 1:51:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would not normally say this, but I am not feeling all that well today. Could the member just keep it down a little bit and just talk to us, as opposed to shouting at us? It is really hurting my ears.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:51:35 p.m.
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The hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon is rising on a point of order.

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Mr. Brad Vis

May/11/23 1:51:39 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, he is almost as loud as I am when I get agitated about something, so it is very loud—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:51:47 p.m.
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That is a point of debate. I do want to remind members that we have microphones, and we also want to make sure that the interpreters are not being impacted. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/11/23 1:52:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we will find that members, at times, might raise their voices a little bit when they feel passionate about an issue. Members are always welcome to leave the chamber or turn down the volume if they so choose. I hope that point of order did not take any of my time away. At the end of the day, when the leader of the Conservative Party tries to give the amazing impression that, somehow, the Conservatives understood immigration, it seems they really need to get a reality check when it comes to immigration. I made reference to the cancellation of the parents and grandparents program. One day, they have this other area on immigration. Imagine that someone is in line and has been waiting for years. They want to come as an independent and to be able to do some good things in Canada. They have been waiting for years under the Conservatives. The Conservatives have an idea: Here is how— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:52:58 p.m.
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I am getting a lot of heckling on the official opposition side, so I would ask members to hold on, because there will be an opportunity to ask questions and comments for five minutes. I would just ask members to hold off. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/11/23 1:53:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, let us imagine this. We have thousands of people in waiting lines, being processed. The Conservatives say they do not want to deal with this particular stream, so what they are going to do is just delete them all. Imagine being in queue, waiting for years, and the Harper government decides that the waiting lines are so long and that one of the ways they can deal with them is just to delete them, to pretend they did not even exist. A lot of people had a difficult time with that one. One can imagine why the Conservatives say that things are broken. We are still fixing the broken system that we inherited from Stephen Harper. That was truly broken. The leader of the Conservative Party says he wants people to feel good, to feel as if they can make a difference. Do members know what he talks about? He talks about immigrant credentials. That is a very important issue. There is no doubt that it is an important issue. In fact, the government has spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars to assist provinces in getting immigrant credentials recognized, far more money than Stephen Harper. What does the Conservative leader say today? He says that they are going to have a blue seal program, and that a person would come to Canada, write an exam and be a doctor anywhere they want in Canada. That is balderdash. That is absolute, underlined, “cannot say the word”. At the end of the day, the Conservatives do not know what they are talking about. They have no idea what all is involved. One cannot just say, “Here, write an exam and then we will allow you, as a doctor, to practise anywhere you want in Canada.” An hon. member: That is how it works. Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: No, that is not the way it works, Madam Speaker—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:55:07 p.m.
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Order. There is a cross-debate again, and there are some people who seem to be repetitive in not respecting the silence that I have asked of them during the hon. member's speech. I would just ask members, again, to stop heckling and to stop trying to engage in conversation while someone else has the floor. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): Order. I am now getting it on the government side as well. Some hon. members: Oh, oh! The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): Order.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/11/23 1:56:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the point is—

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Point
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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/11/23 1:56:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I should start from the top.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:56:19 p.m.
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That would be a good punishment, maybe. I just meant that, because of the conversations I keep having, I should maybe get the member to start from the top, but I will not. I would just remind members that we are getting close to question period and I am sure that they have a lot of questions that they want to ask the hon. member once he is done, for questions and comments. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Charlie Angus

May/11/23 1:56:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I would like to offer a way of bringing some order back to the decorum. It always seems that it is the member for Winnipeg North who is causing this. Could you take some of this last five minutes—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:56:34 p.m.
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That is not a point of order. Again, I would ask members to please be respectful. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/11/23 1:56:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what I was trying to clearly demonstrate is the fact that the Conservative leader has absolutely no idea, in terms of immigration policy or the types of things that would really make a difference, and we see that. I really wish I had the time and wish we were allowed to ask the Conservative leader questions based on the speech he delivered. Not only was he wrong on so many fronts when he tried to say that our system is broken, when in fact we inherited a broken system, but he also used the opportunity of the Bloc's motion to talk about the immigration policy of the Conservative Party. There is no Conservative policy on immigration. I think he understands, to a certain degree, some of those hot issues, but he has no idea how to deal with them. If we want to talk about immigrant credentials, we have to work with the provinces and different stakeholders. By telling people who are here today, or would-be immigrants, that they just have to write an exam and they will get the so-called blue seal, trying to make a comparison to the Red Seal, the Conservative leader is doing a huge disservice. He is trying to give the impression that the Conservatives would do a better job on immigration, when their record is the absolute opposite. That is the reality of the situation. That is why I found it very difficult to be in my seat while the leader of the Conservative Party tried to explain a Conservative policy on immigration. The Conservative leader needs to go back to the drawing board. He really and truly needs to look at ways to contribute to the debate on immigration, because he failed on all accounts coming into this particular debate.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

May/11/23 1:58:52 p.m.
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Questions and comments will come after question period.

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Mr. Heath MacDonald (Malpeque, Lib.)

May/11/23 1:59:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, island farmers are at the leading edge of climate adaptation. They are strong stewards of the environment and they know first-hand the impacts a warming climate has on the future of their industry. Recently, island farmers have been working with the potato board researchers and the living lab in their studying of cover crops. Cover crops assist in retaining nitrogen and nutrients, build soil organic matter, reduce erosion and create better resilience against increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Research has also shown they can produce up to a 10% yield improvement, and some varieties of cover crops can produce additional income for farmers. They are now utilized in nearly 50% of fields where potatoes were planted the year prior. I would like to commend the leadership of research and agronomy specialist Ryan Barrett and island producers on their innovative efforts to adapt to changing climate while still ensuring they produce some of the finest foods in the world.

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Mr. Gary Vidal (Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, CPC)

May/11/23 2:00:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, with Red Dress Day having just passed, it is important to continue our commitment to end violence against all women and children. The Moose Hide Campaign is an indigenous-led, nationwide movement started along Canada's infamous Highway of Tears. It calls on men, boys and all Canadians to stand up against gender-based violence. The co-founders, Paul and his daughter Raven, started this campaign to honour women and children and to challenge men and boys to stand with women and children, to speak out against gender-based violence, to support each other, to hold each other accountable, and to be positive role models for one another. By wearing a moose hide pin and participating in Moose Hide Campaign Day, Canadians are making measurable and meaningful progress towards reconciliation and the creation of a country where violence against women and children can no longer flourish in the shadows. I encourage all members of the House to show their support by wearing and sharing a moose hide pin today.

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