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Mr. Chair, those numbers would be for the Department of Public Safety. People whose visas are expired, if they have not renewed them, and there are many people who renewed their—
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Mr. Chair, we know that for the first quarter, we have reduced our numbers at well below the targeted rate.
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Mr. Chair, all the numbers have been tabled in terms of our targets. We are exceeding those targets for the first quarter of 2025.
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Mr. Chair, we have begun to decline for the first quarter of 2025, to 7.2%. The—
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Mr. Chair, again, we have met and exceeded the target for the first quarter of 2025.
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Mr. Chair, our 2027 target is 5% of Canada's population. We are working—
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Mr. Chair, is the member asking me what Canada's population is, of people who live in Canada?
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Mr. Chair, we are on track to meet the target that we have set for our immigration number, and that is to reduce the overall number of permanent and temporary residents in this country.
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Mr. Chair, that is probably a question for the Minister of Health, but what I can say is that we are looking for doctors and nurses to come and help us here.
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Mr. Chair, once again, it is not the fault of immigrants. Yes, there is an economic crisis, and we, on this side of the House, are working to reduce the number of temporary and permanent visas because we know that there is a crisis. We are continuing to work—
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Mr. Chair, that is absolutely not my intention.
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Mr. Chair, we are working hard to manage immigration by 2027. We have already released all the figures. We will reduce the number of temporary and permanent visas.
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Mr. Chair, we are reducing the number of visas for students and workers. We are working in every way possible to bring those numbers down.
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Mr. Chair, once again, the issue of people leaving the country is a question for the Minister of Public Safety. We are, however, in close contact with my counterpart.
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for Winnipeg North for all his reflections and accurate information. Immigration is indeed key to growing our economy and strengthening our communities. I have talked to the provinces and territories since I have become a minister. They are all responsible for immigration, and believe me, they all agree on that. Canadians rightly want a robust and sustain…
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Mr. Chair, I am not sure how many minutes I have, but I absolutely love the question. I cannot agree more. Diversity in Canada is definitely our strength. It is diversity in our culture, people and languages. I cannot wait to go back to my communities and celebrate Portuguese heritage and Filipino heritage. Actually, next weekend, in my home city of Halifax, the Filipino fiesta is happening. It is…
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Mr. Chair, I would love to accept the hon. member's invitation. I just want to say that I have received so many invitations. I wish I had lots of hours in the day to be able to fulfill them, but I am going to do everything I possibly can.
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Mr. Chair, I have spoken about the pride that I have in the fact that we have tabled the two-year levels plan, which targets decreasing the temporary student population, as well as the temporary—
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Mr. Chair, again, we are working to stabilize the immigration numbers, but we also want to bring in talent.
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Mr. Chair, the reason we are here today is that we recognize that there was strain on our system because of the immigration that is growing.
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Mr. Chair, we have already exceeded the expectation that we are reducing it, so—
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Mr. Chair, we are meeting those targets; in fact we have more than met the expectation of the targets.
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Mr. Chair, we are targeting the talent that we need, including physicians and people who work in construction. There are specific programs that were designed to target bringing those individuals to our communities.
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Mr. Chair, again, we have brought in physicians, nurses and health care workers, people to actually care for Canadians, through those programs, and that is something we will target and keep bringing.
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Mr. Chair, we have a dedicated stream that will work with the provinces and the communities. In fact, in my own province of—
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Mr. Chair, again, the provinces and the communities themselves are also working on these pathways. I know, as a former minister—
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Mr. Chair, I do not think the member really has been here throughout the whole proceedings. Estimates were tabled. We have our levels planned. We have the numbers of the different categories of people who are being brought in. We have met those—
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Mr. Chair, COVID caused the strain on our system. We had more people coming in throughout all of Canada. There was a lot of—
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Mr. Chair, I was a minister of immigration provincially for eight years. I have seen what this country has gone—
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Mr. Chair, I believe economists and people say, in relation to the article he is quoting, that it is the United States tariffs that are driving these numbers.
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Mr. Chair, we have a levels plan that has been tabled in this House. We have targeted numbers. Those numbers are very much in the public eye. Everybody can look at them. We are meeting those numbers.
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Mr. Chair, we are concentrating on bringing the talent that Canada needs, and that includes people in the medical world and in the construction world. Those are the targets that we are concentrating on.
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Mr. Chair, I have done my best to answer the questions. There are times when the amount of time is limited. Members are asking very important questions, questions that Canadians rightfully asked when we went to the doors in the last campaign, which was only—
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Mr. Chair, we will try this again. Immigration is our strength. The increased immigration number, because of COVID, because of the last—
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Mr. Chair, managed migration growth is what this country needs at the present time, and this is the government that—
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Mr. Chair, I do not know how much time I have, but perhaps you would allow me. When numbers are set in those targets, I know, as a previous provincial minister—
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Mr. Chair, when those targets are set, the IRCC has to consult all provinces, territories, stakeholders and communities.
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Mr. Chair, immigration is Canada's greatest strength, and it is important not to blame newcomers to Canada for the housing crisis.
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Mr. Chair, what I will say is, post-pandemic, had we not increased our immigration levels, our economy would have absolutely shrunk.
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Mr. Chair, we recognize that we need to balance our immigration levels with the pressures on housing, and that is exactly what we are doing.
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Mr. Chair, the figures I have been presented with have told me that, because of the work we have been doing in cities like Toronto, there is now a decline of 8.1% in rent.
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Mr. Chair, the member mentioned foreign students, meaning international students. We have brought in 290,000 net new arrivals in Canada through the international student program. A lot of these students are here—
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Mr. Chair, we have introduced student caps. We have also worked with the institutions. The provinces are very well aware, and they are working with their universities and colleges through the designated learning institutions. We have put all kinds of limitations and expectations on the universities.
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Mr. Chair, how much has the federal government spent? I did have that in my estimates actually, and I will get it for the member.
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Mr. Chair, the housing temporary relief that we have is long-term. We provided money to provinces in order to build infrastructure that is permanent. The number—
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Mr. Chair, I believe I already responded to that question when we talked about international students and housing. The facts show that rents have already started to come down in major cities, and we have—
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Mr. Chair, let me first of all thank the member for his hard work for his constituents in London Centre. We had the privilege of attending his constituency, I think two years ago, and we saw first-hand the diversity in the population he represents. I am very much looking forward to working with him as a parliamentary secretary. Going back to the labour gap demands in the country, we in the IRCC, w…
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Mr. Chair, Bill C-2 is critical for ensuring the integrity of our immigration and asylum system. We want to make sure that people around the globe know we welcome talent and welcome people to come visit, but when their time expires, we want them to go back home. If someone is a legitimate asylum seeker, we are here to protect them, but our borders are not a shortcut for people claiming asylum. The…
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Mr. Chair, I have already spoken, in my very short few weeks as a federal minister, with the provincial and territorial ministers responsible for immigration. The provincial nominee program is key to a lot of provinces because it gives them the opportunity to make decisions as to where they believe they have labour gap needs. We are here, as a federal department, to work with provinces and territo…
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Mr. Chair, I am passionate about francophone immigration. When I was the minister of immigration and responsible for Acadian and francophone affairs in Nova Scotia, I worked very hard to increase the number of francophones in Nova Scotia. I am very proud that Canada has exceeded the targets it set for itself. We have a plan here. We have set a target of 12% francophone immigration outside Quebec b…
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