Parliamentary Speeches
415 speeches by Marie-France Lalonde — Page 4 of 9
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question, because I think we collectively agree that this is unacceptable and we are seized with this situation that these international students are facing. Our focus is to make sure that we identify the perpetrator of this fraud and prevent them from abusing anyone again. At the same time, we recognize that there may be students in this cohort who are vuln…
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Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate pride in Canada, Uganda passed one of the toughest draconian laws in the world, making it the 12th country to enact the death penalty against LGBTQI persons. Today, Canada is honoured to welcome Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Frank Mugisha, executive director of SMUG and one of the leading human rights defenders in Uganda. He is with five parliamentarians who have brave…
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Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I will not take any lessons from the members of the official opposition on immigration cases. What I will say to the House, though, is this: We want to ensure that those who are not responsible for fraud will have an opportunity to demonstrate their situation and present evidence to support their case. At the same time, the integrity of our immigration system remain…
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Madam Speaker, I want to say to those victims that I was a member of the provincial government, actually the former solicitor general, when these incidents happened. We collectively, as Canadians, stand very firm on the tragic loss of these wonderful young men who perished. I can assure the House that every day we remember them. We also know that there is a court case in place, and this is the cou…
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Madam Speaker, I can assure the member opposite that we take these allegations of fraud very seriously. For these students—
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Madam Speaker, opposition members may want to listen to the answer. I can assure the member opposite that we take these allegations very seriously. For these students who may have been victims of fraud, we want to make it clear: They can benefit from full due process. We are also cracking down on these bad actors who prey on our most vulnerable. We will always be there for these vulnerable student…
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Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate my colleague's question, because it allows me to further reinforce the idea that, on that side of the House, what they were trying to do was virtually nothing. We worked very hard to renegotiate the agreement between the United States and Canada. We have always been there for people who ask for help. We are already seeing concrete results regarding asylum seeker…
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Mr. Speaker, as June marks Seniors Month, I was delighted to start visiting seniors' residences in my community of Orléans last week. After a few years without being able to meet with our seniors, it was so nice to sit down, hear their stories and simply enjoy their company. I have to say it was a joy to see the smiles on their faces. The resilience and strength exhibited by the residents was trul…
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Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear, our focus is on identifying culprits, not penalizing victims. Victims of fraud would have an opportunity to demonstrate their situation and present evidence to support their case. We recognize the immense contributions international students bring to our country. We will continue supporting them.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, international students make an important contribution to Canada. We have heard that loud and clear. That is why we started extending expired and expiring post-graduate work permits. As a result, nearly 100,000 international graduates have been able to continue working across the country. We also scrapped the 20-hour work week cap, and nearly 500,000 international students h…
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Mr. Speaker, we understand that prospective students and the schools that accepted them are disappointed when applications are rejected. I want the House to know that last year I was in Tunisia where, during the Sommet de la Francophonie, I had the chance to meet with several leaders and players in our francophonie to come up with solutions to this problem. I would also like to point out to the Ho…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague in the sense that we need these people who come here. That is why we implemented the student direct stream for Senegal and Morocco to expedite the processing of applications. The approval rate has improved, but we know that there is still work to be done. We recognize the major social, cultural and economic advantages that international students bring to Queb…
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois must think the government has some kind of crystal ball. Our immigration plans are based on the next three years, not the next 75 years. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has been very clear. His decision is based on what he believes to be the best immigration policy for Canada, based on the needs and capacity of Quebec and Canada. We will always…
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud to answer that question. I want to be very clear. We have made significant progress in reducing backlogs and improving services for our clients. Let us look at the numbers. We have reduced the backlog by over half a million. We finalized 5.2 million applications last year, twice as many as in 2021. We set the bar very high when it comes to providing quality services in Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, it was a busy weekend. I had the pleasure of attending the Mother's Day high tea event on Saturday, which was organized by my fellow Rotarian members of the Rotary Club of Orléans. The event was significant and symbolic, with the aim of honouring the women who have played important roles in our lives. I wish them a happy Mother's Day. Also, summer is among us and it means it is the ti…
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Mr. Speaker, if the Bloc Québécois wants to know how to protect Quebec's demographic weight, I urge its members to read the Canada-Quebec accord, which has been working for three decades. If they want to know what our plan is to reverse the decline of French, I urge them to read the new action plan for official languages. If they want to know what our plan is to support francophone communities acr…
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Mr. Speaker, as we are all keenly aware, a Canadian passport is one of the most reliable travel documents around. We can celebrate our history here in the House and across Canada in lots of ways, and we can also ensure that our passports are secure. I think we might be losing sight of the main objective. Our passports have to be secure, which is exactly the task we set out to accomplish. We will k…
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my colleague for his question. Let me be very clear: We are doing everything we can to reduce wait times in processing applications. We have tripled the number of work permits for clients. We have returned to our 60-day service standard for new study permits, and in 2022 we welcomed more than 437,000 new permanent residents, a record number since 1913. This is good…
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Mr. Speaker, let me be perfectly clear. The Century Initiative is not a government policy. The government does not endorse the findings of this independent group. The government does not have a goal of increasing Canada's population to 100 million people. We have announced our immigration thresholds for the next three years. These thresholds were set according to the needs of Canadians and Quebeck…
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Mr. Speaker, just for everyone to know, every 10 years the government updates its passports to protect Canadians from fraudsters and ensure it is hard to counterfeit the passports. This is not a partisan issue. This is about ensuring Canadians get the most secure and reliable passports that they can use around the world. The Conservatives just do not get that.
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Mr. Speaker, the situation in Sudan is highly volatile, and we are deeply concerned for the safety of Sudanese people. That is why we have announced that we are introducing immigration measures to support Sudanese nationals in Canada who are unable to return home. We are also providing facilitative measures and expediting the processing of their applications, free of charge. We are ready to help t…
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Mr. Speaker, do we know what Conservatives are good at? They are good at pitting Canadians against each other through fear and divisive rhetoric. We are updating the Canadian passport to protect Canadians against fraud, but the Conservatives are good at turning this issue into a cultural war. They are trying to bring a Trump-style war to Canada. We will not be swayed. We will continue to help our …
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Madam Speaker, I am going to reiterate what I was so happy to announce in the House not so long ago. For the first time in history, since we started keeping track, we have met our target of 4.4% francophone immigration outside Quebec. That was in 2022, one year ahead of schedule. I understand very well and I respect my colleague because she supports francophone immigration, and I thank her for ask…
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Madam Speaker, I would first like to mention that I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge. I am wondering what the real point of the motion proposed by my Bloc Québécois colleagues today is, if not to sow discord or stir up trouble. What are the real needs of Canada, and what are Quebeckers and Canadians saying about it? I would like to share a bit of what I …
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Madam Speaker, we certainly do hear those concerns all across Canada and Quebec. I just want to remind my colleague that, for the first time in Canadian history, our government has put a housing strategy in place, and that policy includes affordable housing. When it comes to speeding up housing construction, the $4‑billion accelerator fund—
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his stories and explanation today, but I would also just like to perhaps reassure the House and set the record straight. I lived in Quebec for 28 years and my daughter was born there. I will go back to the question I asked his colleague. Canada transfers significant amounts of money to Quebec for its francization programs and, unfortunately, mo…
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Madam Speaker, I will be quick because I really want to hear my colleague's response to my question. I think he knows that Quebec has an agreement with Canada and that a rather significant amount of financial compensation is transferred from Canada to Quebec, which is the only province to receive this type of compensation. There is also the idea that French integration in Quebec is tied to financi…
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Madam Speaker, on this side of the House, I have many colleagues who represent the interests of Quebec, including the Prime Minister, who is proud to call himself a Quebecker. I know there are many ministers and members of my caucus who have a strong sense of belonging and are proud to be Quebeckers and Canadians. We will always help the Quebec government achieve its goals. Today, what matters is …
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Mr. Speaker, it is with emotion that I join my community of Orléans to express our deepest sympathy to the family and numerous friends of Thomas Allen Tweddle, known as Al, following his passing on May 1. Anyone who has crossed paths with Al would say that it is simply impossible to list all his contributions to our community. His necrology says, “‘Big Al’ was a fixture in the community; much like…
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Mr. Speaker, on April 29, I attended the eighth annual Soirée Saphir, an event organized by the Fondation franco-ontarienne to recognize the commitment, excellence and influence of women in the francophone community. I sincerely want to congratulate the six winners of the gala and all the finalists. I would like to recognize two finalists from my community for their leadership, namely Maïssa Zemni…
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Madam Speaker, on April 10, I attended the 15th awards gala of the Regroupement affaires femmes, where three women from Orléans were recognized for their leadership. I want to congratulate Lydia Marie Philippe, who received a “young leader” award; Hortense Mvuemba, who received the “community engagement” award; and Sabine Daniel, who was named “icon of the year”. It was also a pleasure to host an …
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for her question and for her advocacy for caregivers in our country. As a former social worker, I know caregivers' hardship. I have also worked with caregivers in many of my roles before entering politics. We have announced that we are reducing work requirements from 24 months to 12 months to help reduce the barriers in getting PR. We sincerely value the s…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, whom I always appreciate because she speaks so eloquently. She touched on several topics in her speech on this very important bill. Bill C-47 is important because I believe we will achieve our government's goal of helping Canadians while being very fiscally responsible. One of the concerns that my colleague talked about is housing, and that speaks to me because…
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to stand up today and acknowledge rising star and Orléans ambassador Sophie Grenier. Sophie just won season nine of the Quebec television program La Voix. From the very start, she wowed the show's coaches and fans with her powerful voice and emotional delivery. She owes her win not only to her own talent, of course, but also to years of vocal training at Orléans' Sing Ho…
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his advocacy. I have said it in the House, and I will say it again today: If it were a matter of will, there would be 40,000 Afghan refugees here already, but we know that in reality, with everything that has been happening, there have been challenges and obstacles. We are working very hard in addressing those, for instance through Bill C-41. Ther…
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Mr. Speaker, it is with sadness but much hope that I join all Franco-Ontarians and my colleagues in the House to pay tribute to an extraordinary man and journalist for the past 32 years at Le Droit, a man beginning an unprecedented battle against an enemy—cancer—he characterized as Goliath in his latest, but not last, column. I am referring to Mr. Denis Gratton, a proud Franco-Ontarian and passion…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate an announcement that we made Friday. We have finally updated the safe third country agreement, the agreement that applies to the entire Canada-U.S. border. On top of that, we will be welcoming 50,000 people from America to promote safe and orderly migration. This is a major victory for Canada.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for presenting some points of view that are indeed very important. From the beginning, we brought in a number of measures to temporarily fulfill our commitment to help the Afghan people. However, these measures have their limits. When we introduced Bill C-41, representatives from the Red Cross were right there beside us, talking about the additional work they wo…
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Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of representing a community of active and engaged seniors in Orléans. That is why I was proud to attend the monthly breakfast hosted by the Rendez-vous des aînés francophones d'Ottawa, or RAFO, on March 19 to announce $99,450 in financial aid under the community spaces fund. The RAFO, which has over 600 members, was able to do major renovations to make its buildin…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member of the Bloc Québécois that, every time he asked questions in the House, he asked us to suspend the agreement. Let us be clear. I would like to confirm that with my colleagues today. The Quebec government strongly supports our new agreement. If the Bloc Québécois has some concerns about what is happening in Quebec and to Quebeckers, I invite him to per…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I hope that he heard President Biden's speech in the House on Friday. Once again, Canada and the United States just announced an update to the safe third country agreement. That is great news, because this new agreement will allow us to better manage refugee claimants from both our countries and ensure that our refugee system is caring and compas…
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Mr. Speaker, insofar as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, is concerned, the answer is as follows. With regard to part (a), engaging with United States officials is not the exclusive purview of IRCC. As of February 6, 2023, IRCC officials had not made any representations with U.S. officials. With regard to part (b), engaging with U.S. officials is not the exclusive purview of I…
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to the legislation that was introduced by my colleague, the hon. Minister of Public Safety. As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, I know our team needs to work closely to keep Canadians safe while also responding to the humanitarian crisis and bringing people to Canada. In response to…
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member raises a very good point. We did not expect the Taliban to overtake the government as quickly as it did, but I am very proud of the fact that since then, although we had a significant amount of obstacles facing us, we were able to bring almost 30,000 Afghans to Canada. I have had the pleasure, throughout the past year, to meet and talk to many of the women and girls …
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Madam Speaker, I want to be very clear. In 2021, no one anticipated the fall to occur that quickly. We also need to be very candid here in saying that the government made a huge commitment in actually bringing at least 40,000 Afghans to this country. We are very near 30,000. As this bill is being proposed, and we are engaging with all partners and all NGOs, we certainly want and hope that the Hous…
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Madam Speaker, as I said, the efforts Canada made certainly resonated in the international world, but we also know there were challenges and obstacles along the way. I represent a beautiful riding called Orléans, which has a very large Afghan community and also has active military persons and military veterans. Canada stood tall. We committed to not 20,000 but at least 40,000 Afghans coming to Can…
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Madam Speaker, it is quite interesting actually that the hon. member asked me that question in the House, when last Friday he and all of his party colleagues could not even stand up when the President of the United States actually made reference to what—
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Mr. Speaker, the month of March symbolizes our francophone pride and our linguistic duality. Yesterday, on March 20, francophones in my community of Orléans, across Canada and throughout the world celebrated the International Day of La Francophonie. My colleague, the Minister of Official Languages came to my community, to the Collège catholique Mer bleue, under the Conseil des écoles catholiques d…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. The United States is our neighbour and closest ally. We are working closely with the Biden administration. As mentioned, the minister had a bilateral meeting with his American counterpart. We will continue to defend Canada's interests. We will not stop now. We will continue to work to strengthen and modernize the safe third country agreement.
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Mr. Speaker, the world is in turmoil, and we should be very happy with the government and its efforts in protecting and supporting. My heart goes out to all the women and girls who are affected by a regime that we need to condemn, which we will continue to do. Our government will always welcome the most vulnerable individuals.
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