Conservative MPs comment on immigration issues, decline in economic growth – May 29, 2026

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Good morning.

[00:00:02]Uh like to make a comment on a few things. I'll start with the uh immigrations minister's appearance at last night's committee of the whole. Um there were a few concerning laps of judgment I think she made in her answers as well as lack of information. So, first of all, we still have questions after questioning her last night about whether the uh government believes that the measures, particularly the immigration measures that they're undertaking will be sufficient to prevent Ebola from entering and spreading in Canada as the world FIFA World Cup approaches.

[00:00:38]I'm also concerned that she didn't have a more cogent response on committing to pro more autonomy for provinces over immigration powers.

[00:00:48]uh as well, she would not confirm that she would abolish the TFW program, particularly uh we also asked her if she would stop issuing permits for Tim Hortons.

[00:01:02]We had several questions last night on Liberal Bill C3, uh the citizenship by descent bill. Uh, interestingly, she would not stand by her initial estimate of 5,000 people being granted Canadian citizenship yearly, particularly in light of the CBC reporting that millions of Americans are now eligible for Canadian citizenship. Uh, she claim she admitted last night that there are 17,000 people in Canada who are being investigated for ties to the Iranian regime and uh also had several bizarre comments on the interim federal health program. But I think the thing that stuck out most to me last night was even when presented with dozens of cases of non-citizens being given leniency um after being convicted of serious crimes in sentencing in order to avoid deportation. She expressed no willingness to change the situation. This was particularly stunning in light of a case of a constituent um of my colleague MP Kelly Derritter. This case involved a non-citizen being convicted of choking his partner and then being allowed to stay in Canada and this uh victim now has to live in a women's shelter due to him repeatedly breaching probation. So we need some answers and action on that.

[00:02:20]Uh I also want to speak briefly to uh this morning's numbers or uh recessionary data that just came out uh specifically with regard to immigration.

[00:02:34]So, we know that the Liberals let too many people into the country too fast for housing, healthcare, and jobs to keep up. And we know that this created a youth jobs crisis and um labor market distortions, wage distortions across the economy. I think that the data today, the recessionary data today shows that the the this immigration shell game, which essentially was that this mass immigration was um masking underlying economic weakness, that shell game is is is over today. Um here there there's some particular stats that I think are important. Population growth has out outpaced economic out output for a long period of time in Canada and that has created a misleading p picture of economic strength. Uh record immigration may have driven Canada's total GDP higher but real GDP per capita has de declined in the last five of six quarters. So t today I I I think what what needs to be just re-emphasized is that Canada is the only G7 country that's in a recession right now. And there have been structural issues related to the Liberals um anti-development policies um inflationary deficit spending and more. and uh that that doesn't bode well for the economy or anybody who is now residing in Canada. So uh you know while high immigration may have created short-term GDP boosts and labor uh labor market padding, it has also led to rising unemployment among new newcomers, housing and infrastructure stra strain and per capita stagnation. Things that will only get worse now that we have this official recession data. Thank you my colleague Gabrielle.

[00:04:30]We forecis.

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[00:07:41]>> Thank you.

[00:07:47]>> The Canada is in technical recession. Is it Donald Trump's fault or Mark Carney's fault?

[00:07:53]>> Well, we've we've had data which have shown that Canada's economy has been faltering for some time and that's because of some of the elements that I talked about earlier. We've had anti-development laws from the Liberal government which are still in place under Mark Carney like Bill C69, Bill C48, the no more pipelines bill, the anti-tanker bill. This has chased away um this has chased away investment from Canada. Uh also, you know, I I talked about how a lot of Liberal policies have uh lowered productivity in Canada. Um the the the other thing I'll say is that the Liberals decade of inflationary spending has created economic impacts which have uh I I would say stalled economic growth and again I'll just reemphasize we are the only country we are the only country that's in G7 country that's in a recession right now.

[00:08:50]Um the Liberals have refused for a long time to undertake policies which would create an environment for investment stability. Uh you know I think about the industrial carbon tax. I think about the fact that again bill C69 is still in place. And again I I I I want to also outline something else. if if if oil prices weren't high right now, right? The numbers would be even worse.

[00:09:24]So, we have to look internally as a country.

[00:09:28]And the reality is is that Marney's been the prime prime minister for a year.

[00:09:33]many of the bills that have led to economic stagnation. Like when you think about for example per capita GDP growth in 2015 was was higher and it was matching under peer countries like the United States. Now there's a big delta between us and the US. I mean Mark Carney's been here for a year and I think that there's a lot of elements of investment instability that his government he personally is presiding over and he needs to be held accountable for that.

[00:10:01]>> Thank you. You mentioned the immigration shell game is over with respect to the idea of, you know, juicing GDP numbers with temporary residents, but as you mentioned, we still have a lot of temporary people here in Canada. How what what do you think the actual GDP figures may actually look like?

[00:10:16]>> It's a good question. Um, I would point first to the youth jobs crisis and the elimination of a lot of entry- level jobs in Canada, particularly in white collar jobs. Um there are more and more people who are becoming unemployed every month and um you know the reality is is that the Liberals are still issuing I think this year it's 215,000 new temporary foreign work permits plus foreign student permits which include the ability to work. Uh so so that is a number that Canadians should be concerned with. Uh it's certainly something I'll be monitoring closely, but again, this is why conservatives have been for the last uh you know, since the fall calling for the abolishment of the temporary foreign worker program, replacing it with a standalone uh program for legitimately hard to fill agricultural labor because we we saw this this problem coming. Uh I think last night in the House of Commons we asked the minister many questions directly related to what you were talking about and there was almost no acknowledgement of that fact. So again, I would just reup calls for the government to abolish the temporary foreign worker program, replace it with the program I just mentioned, and to be cognizant of the fact that there the policies that they would put in place have stalled the economy, and that means bad news for uh Canadian workers, people who are worried about jobs, job security, and particularly youth who are in a jobs crisis right now.

[00:11:45]>> We've got the prime minister, you know, constantly going overseas trying to sell Canada as this investment hub. At the same time, they don't seem to be paying that much attention to this file. Do you think there's a kind of misunderstanding on, how do I put this? Do you think they're essentially trying to keep going with business as usual with the temporary foreign worker program in the hopes that these trade deals might get us back to a point where that might cover for what's going on with immigration?

[00:12:11]Well, again, um, it's a good question, but we've we've seen structural economic problems in the Canadian economy for a long period of time, and that's measured particularly by the per capita GDP figures that we've seen. There's been a precipitous decline in per per capita GDP. Um, we could also look at labor market productivity as well too, right?

[00:12:33]That's that's declined on a per capita basis. So the question for me uh I is really about is really twofold. Um when I look at the ability of Canada's economy to attract job creating investment in the long term reg unnecessarily unnecessary regulation like bill C69 uh inflationary spending that creates problems for stability for long-term investment long-term economic growth. Then to your question, the government is continuing to bring in high numbers of temporary foreign workers through various programs. So those do two things don't jive. If you're seeing a long-term decrease in economic growth and you keep bringing in more people, you know, simply put, it's too many people too fast for the economy to create jobs. And so your your question about does the government care about the immigration file? I think Mark Carney doesn't care about the immigration file. I think it's why he evidence of that is he's got a very weak minister. It's something that, you know, I'm not just saying this uh people with liberal leanings are saying this on political shows and you know, whenever we have her at committee when she says things like why why would I consult the provinces on on healthc care capacity?

[00:13:48]It's like there's a disconnect between setting immigration levels and and and the type of people that were like and by that I mean, you know, uh high-skilled economic workers versus a flood of low-skilled uh migrants. uh through various streams. I think that there's a disconnect there and uh it's it's something I don't think that the minister is capable of wrapping her head around, frankly. Uh and so this is why conservatives have called on the prime minister to take accountability for this file to fire this incompetent minister and to your point take it seriously because it has an impact on Canadian workers and uh job prospects. Thank you.