Full Comment - Think runaway immigration is being fixed？ Think again

00:00:00.000 immigration used to be something that united canadians generally speaking the canadian public

00:00:07.900 was in favor of immigration even as numbers increased larger and larger by the year hello

00:00:13.240 welcome to the full comment podcast my name is brian lily your host and this week we're going

00:00:17.480 to take a look at where immigration is heading now because public support is falling even former

00:00:23.220 prime minister justin trudeau once famously said we're bringing in people faster than we can

00:00:27.760 absorb them and the liberals have done very little to change that over the past several weeks

00:00:33.180 conservative mp and immigration critic michelle rumple garner mp for calgary nose hill has been

00:00:38.940 taking the liberals to task over abuses of the temporary foreign worker program she joins me 0.94

00:00:44.440 now to talk about that michelle we'll make that our starting point it's not the only issue

00:00:48.780 in a system that used to run very well that used to be studied by other countries around the world

00:00:54.560 now if they studied our program they would be looking to say how do we not mess this up but

00:01:00.280 what is the the main issue with the temporary foreign workers program because prime minister

00:01:05.320 carney says it's working just fine employers want these people and they've already reduced the numbers

00:01:10.360 so what say you a couple of things i think it's worth pointing out right off the top especially when

00:01:16.620 you're talking about the polling numbers on public sentiment on immigration in canada that i actually

00:01:21.880 think that canadians still support the concept of immigration canada's not anti-newcomer i think

00:01:28.480 what's been really interesting for me to watch is that the canadian public is um opposed to the fact

00:01:34.600 that the liberals have mismanaged the system they've brought in too many people too fast for the economic

00:01:40.800 and social supports like jobs housing and health care to keep up so i think it's a solvable problem

00:01:46.040 so you know then to your question about the temporary foreign worker program so in the last 10 years the

00:01:51.760 liberals reversed the reforms that former minister jason kenney made to the program in 2014 and then

00:01:59.340 completely juiced the numbers like and then in the meantime they did that while we're in the middle

00:02:04.900 of a massive youth jobs crisis while uh you know our economy is teetering into recession

00:02:11.720 and so the economy is not creating jobs and they're bringing in temporary foreign workers who are often

00:02:20.860 abused in these programs uh to take jobs that should be going to canadians so the program needs to be

00:02:27.440 scrapped there's i i don't see another alternative we've we've talked about what about just putting the

00:02:33.180 guardrails back on and and and i'd like to mention some of those because you mentioned that jason kenney

00:02:38.640 had put them on and then in april of 2022 the liberals got rid of them some of those included

00:02:44.400 if your local unemployment rate was above six percent you couldn't get a labor market impact

00:02:49.500 assessment to get a temporary foreign worker they got rid of that we've had immigration above six 1.00

00:02:55.140 percent for 18 months in this country they increased it as the maximum number you could have from

00:03:00.900 10 to 20 and in some cases 30 of your workforce could be temporary foreign workers

00:03:07.140 it just would seem like common sense to maybe put those back on why do you say scrap it instead of

00:03:13.920 go back to the way it was because there's a moral imperative associated with the program that's i think

00:03:20.020 fundamentally anti-canadian in two forms first of all the temporary foreign worker program has

00:03:25.900 normalized the acceptability of a low-skilled indentured foreign underclass to do certain types

00:03:34.320 of work in this country and i i think that's morally wrong it also explain what you mean by

00:03:40.200 indenture so so so for your listeners for the most part people coming into the program under the

00:03:46.860 temporary foreign worker program are tied to one employer they can't move around and their ability

00:03:52.840 to stay in the country is determinate on whether or not the employer keeps their job going like it's

00:03:58.040 oversimplified but that's essentially what it is so so as an employer i could threaten you and say

00:04:03.320 michelle you're you're not doing well and if you don't smarten up you're gonna have to leave the

00:04:07.940 country or subject you to extremely poor working conditions um and and that's the thing brian like

00:04:14.080 this you've reported on stories about the the the program being rife with abuse of workers right

00:04:22.080 stories about workers who have actually paid to come to the country to get that that permit which is

00:04:29.240 you know you know the the quote i use is a middle finger to canadian labor law but you know what i

00:04:35.180 mean about the the that normalization of of an underclass is it's bankrupt from two perspectives

00:04:43.660 first of all i saw some liberal commentators this week going like well my friends and i don't want to

00:04:48.180 do those jobs can you imagine if i said that because like that's a dog whistly thing right it's there

00:04:55.180 are i did all those jobs yeah there are certain jobs that only certain people should do the second

00:05:01.000 thing that's wrong with the program is that it removes the concept that we should be betting on

00:05:07.260 canadian kids you know i've said this many times over the last week my first job was in an ice cream

00:05:12.080 store in winnipeg when i was 15 years old and i learned 16 i can't remember i i remember learning the

00:05:20.600 basics of like responsibility showing to work up on time customer service um you know working to

00:05:27.380 standard working to a timeline a product consistency like the basics of work right and and and so

00:05:35.660 over the last decade we've seen that first job really kind of disappear and the value and dignity of

00:05:44.240 that first job disappear and i when when employers say that there are canadian youth that don't want to

00:05:49.520 do those jobs i don't buy it i know that there are kids who would and gladly and and and with love do

00:05:55.500 those jobs i have told i just think the program's anti-canadian there i'll say it because also if we

00:06:00.640 want to invite people to this country like to invite them and say okay well we expect you to work in jobs

00:06:06.760 but you're not going to have the same labor standards as as as as other people who have come to this

00:06:11.820 country to build a better life like no it has to stop enough it's over you know a lot of people just

00:06:20.720 think of temporary foreign worker program being something that helps seasonable agricultural workers

00:06:26.800 that's not the program you're talking about though you're talking about the program that you've been

00:06:31.560 posting um well they couldn't possibly find someone to work at a booster juice or a tim hortons for

00:06:37.600 36 an hour i'm simply not buying that i've told every kid that would ever listen to me if you can

00:06:44.440 get a job at a mcdonald's um and i haven't heard of mcdonald's you know abusing this program but there

00:06:49.620 are some others that people talk about a lot but you get a job at a mcdonald's any employer is going to

00:06:55.100 hire you on your next job why because you learned a system so yeah it's a low skill entry level job

00:07:01.060 working as a line cook at mcdonald's but what you learn from learning their system will do you well

00:07:08.000 in that next job and it worked for me it's worked for countless other kids

00:07:12.620 he's a mcdonald's my chief of staff is a mcdonald's alum and he turned out all right

00:07:19.320 there you go so but restaurants canada put out a statement the other day saying only three percent

00:07:26.200 of our the workforce of our members works for uh our temporary foreign workers and there's not

00:07:31.460 abuse in the program and we need this um mark carney said it's the number two issue he he hears

00:07:37.840 from employers we need access to these people it's number two after tariffs um what do you answer

00:07:44.380 to prime minister it's three percent too many in the middle of a um you know with a faltering economy

00:07:50.040 uh with all the moral issues we just talked about and um and and also with the you know

00:07:55.520 technological disruptions created by ai you know brian if any of the gr types that represent these 0.99

00:08:02.600 people are listening to this clip this is what i would say there's a first mover advantage to a

00:08:07.800 company coming out and saying we are not using this program anymore we're doing the morally right

00:08:11.900 thing here because i i honestly think the liberals are going to have to abolish it i i can't see a lane

00:08:16.360 out for them but what they should be pivoting to is labor mobile advocating for labor mobility

00:08:22.260 strategies um skills training for youth um skills matching for youth those that's where the industry

00:08:29.520 should be asking for and also productivity increases right you know you have all these economists that

00:08:34.240 come out and rightly clutch their pearls over oh you know canada's productivity we're in a crisis well

00:08:40.100 how can you see productivity gains if canadian industry has this unlimited access to indentured

00:08:50.060 temporary low-cost labor i mean it's it's anti-market like if we're just even talking from a conservative

00:08:56.800 principle right so i don't buy it at all um i don't think anybody in the public really buys it either

00:09:03.560 you mentioned ag the program was designed back in the day way back in the day to fill

00:09:09.600 legitimately hard to fill labor in natural like areas of naturally and persistently low unemployment

00:09:16.620 like seasonal agriculture labor and that needs still persists and that's why we've said we've

00:09:21.780 echoed what farmers and and and food producers have told us and said hive that off have a separate

00:09:27.820 program for that need the rest of this stuff needs to go it needs to go let's mention one of the

00:09:36.820 companies that takes a big beating online tim hortons um fairly or not is getting beaten do you think it's

00:09:42.940 fair some of the online comments that the company is facing that they they only hire people who aren't

00:09:48.240 from canada so here's the thing nobody should be blaming the newcomers who want to come to canada

00:09:53.600 for coming to canada and building a better life nobody should be doing that that's completely unfair and

00:09:59.920 it's to me that's that's antithetical to what it means to be canadian but they sure should be blaming 0.99

00:10:05.580 the liberals for allowing companies like tim hortons to build a business model that relies not just on

00:10:13.420 tfws but also on other streams of temporary foreign labor as well too you know if i was sitting on the

00:10:18.880 tim hortons board um brian what i would say to them is how how did you not see this as a risk exposure

00:10:25.060 a long-term risk risk exposure how did you allow your if you're if this is so like such a hill to

00:10:32.800 die on for you it must mean that there's a lot of risk associated with your profit and loss model so

00:10:38.120 how did like this is a government intervention that um clearly has problems also has to your point

00:10:43.760 about comments it has brand problems too right because if a canadian a company whose brand has been

00:10:51.500 associated with the canadian ethos for so long is using a program that the un has likened to slave

00:10:59.360 labor like how did nobody in their company say hmm maybe we shouldn't be heavily reliant reliant on a

00:11:06.020 program that the united nations has likened to modern day slave labor like like hello seems like a

00:11:14.320 political advice tim hortons free free free free gr advice maybe don't do that like temporary

00:11:21.160 foreign workers as i said off the top that's only part of the problem facing the immigration system

00:11:26.040 still on the temporary resident side you know we drove up the population of temporary residents in

00:11:34.180 this country to 7.3 percent of the total population yeah that's utterly insane these are people that

00:11:40.000 we've allowed in the country but expect them to leave yep um they've come as temporary foreign workers 1.00

00:11:45.060 or as students or the big one that few people talk about but you have the international mobility

00:11:51.440 program explain this program to us and and is this one also problematic the way the tfw program is

00:11:58.980 yeah it's um so so first of all for people listening and i've seen a lot of comments about this online

00:12:03.080 people think that the imp the international mobility program it's like structured the same way as the

00:12:09.320 tfw program and it's not it's more of like a again oversimplified uh a catch-all for a bunch of

00:12:15.200 different temporary immigration streams right so big ones being the foreign student permitting process

00:12:22.400 which when you get one of those somebody would be allowed to work a certain amount of time and then

00:12:27.140 those permits again largely auto convert into something called a postgraduate work permit and that's

00:12:34.300 where a lot of people are seeing these big gluts and in or big spikes in um and in overall temporary

00:12:41.500 foreign labor so the the difference between the tfw program and these programs uh there are differences

00:12:48.020 but the big one is that uh it's kind of what's happening right now with those programs is that there's

00:12:54.200 like a if you can imagine a snake that just ate a big mouse it's like there's this bulge working its way

00:12:59.640 through the system and the bulge was sean frazier uh when during his tenure as immigration minister and

00:13:05.940 he bragged about it i've tweeted this clip a million times i think it was close to three uh three quarters

00:13:11.220 of a million people that he allowed in through these various streams or more in a two-year period so what

00:13:17.520 happens is like the that bulge is working its way through all of the processes under the imp and the

00:13:26.020 liberals are saying okay well we've reduced numbers over here but they haven't figured out what to do

00:13:29.960 with the bulge right and so what's happening it's like a snake eating a pig hole yeah 100 percent and

00:13:35.720 so what's happening is like the liberals and sean frazier they sort of tacitly promised all the people

00:13:41.160 that came in under those years that they would they sort of wink in and i'm like don't worry you'll be

00:13:45.800 able to stay in canada right you'll get permanent residency but now what's happening is you see

00:13:51.600 you know protests people saying well i want to stay here uh i should be offered permanent residency

00:13:57.640 and the government doesn't have a plan to remove people who have overstayed their visa so now they

00:14:03.040 have this program you've got several of them many of them saying i won't leave and and it's not their

00:14:07.980 fault for for being invited to this country and wanting to build a better life here well look look i can

00:14:13.400 understand the desire michelle my parents are immigrants we sponsored my uncle's family to come over

00:14:18.580 and join us we've sponsored refugee families fleeing war and persecution i get all that but

00:14:24.980 if you agree to come as a say a student and you're going to be allowed into the country on a two-year

00:14:30.460 visa you're expected to leave at the end of the two-year visa that would be the same if i went to

00:14:34.820 the states or to the uk or wherever but i think it's very important for canadians to to not point the

00:14:40.740 finger this is what the liberals want canadians to do that's what they want me to do is is point

00:14:44.860 the finger at newcomers and it's not their fault for wanting to come here i mean you had justin

00:14:49.120 trudeau tweet hashtag welcome to canada in 2017 with the associated you know let's just you know

00:14:56.200 anybody can come here there's no rules there's no fairness there's no order so of course there's going

00:15:01.600 to be this expectation and the other thing is too brian is that there's this understanding that the

00:15:07.080 asylum system in canada has been by the liberals transformed into a backdoor economic oh let's 0.90

00:15:14.620 get to that in a moment because i got the numbers yeah and i'm just going to finish so that's like

00:15:18.460 the imp we're talking about that so the question for the liberals this fall because they keep saying

00:15:22.520 like oh okay well we're reducing numbers we're reducing numbers here we're not letting new people

00:15:27.940 in but what people when they see these graphs they're seeing that bulge so what happens with these

00:15:32.340 people what is what are the liberals going to do with them are they just going to get permanent

00:15:36.440 residency well i brian i did spend the entire summer um more than more than i like to spend

00:15:44.040 some of my summer in ottawa but we've that the conservative party has a very detailed policy

00:15:48.940 platform that we've started to roll out we will be rolling it out over the fall that is going to

00:15:53.420 present the liberals with common sense solutions to these problems to restore order and fairness to

00:15:59.480 the immigration system uh to ensure that canadians get canadian jobs but also to ensure that newcomers

00:16:05.680 to canada who want to come here and build a better life are are done in that that process is returned

00:16:11.920 to order uh sanity fairness and in numbers that the canadian economy and our social fabric can continue

00:16:19.280 the levels that are at right now they need to be way way way way way way way way way way way reduced

00:16:24.240 right so on every single stream michelle whether we're talking temporary foreign workers

00:16:29.920 imp asylum seekers permanent residency they are still way way way above they are where they were 1.00

00:16:38.360 just five years ago they've said that they're going to reduce um permanent residents down to 400 000

00:16:44.620 or just under 400 000 uh well that's still well above the harper era average of about 250 000 it ranged

00:16:51.240 between about 210 to 290 in the harper years averaging about 250 they're saying oh we'll

00:16:58.440 decrease it from 500 000 to 395 exactly that is still a massive number crazy when you've still got

00:17:04.760 all these other big streams 100 and like i have been watching this and i i know it's in their qp binders

00:17:11.720 this is the this is the play that they're going to say is exactly that well we've lowered levels

00:17:16.200 but it's like saying oh we put out the fire hint they didn't put out the fire and then what's left

00:17:22.040 is this burnt out house right and they're like oh look we put out the fire but it's like well what

00:17:27.400 happened to the house right and and so so it's the conversation about immigration now given how badly

00:17:35.400 the liberals mismanaged the system yes it has to be about levels going forward and i've got a lot to say

00:17:40.980 about that but it also has to be about okay you have what four or five million people in the country

00:17:48.100 like overall that are on some form of visitor visa that their visitor visa is about to expire

00:17:54.580 what's the plan boys and girls um how are you going to get them to leave and then what does that mean

00:18:00.660 for levels going forward and that's what we started litigating in the house in may but boy oh boy there's a

00:18:05.860 lot more coming uh next week well we're at the point where we've gone from strong support for

00:18:12.900 immigration and i know you you said earlier you still think canadians support it but they want

00:18:17.620 order not like this though not like right now that a nanos poll released to the globe and mail this past

00:18:23.860 week said 71.4 agree with reducing the number of new immigrants 65.5 agree with reducing the target for new

00:18:33.140 temporary residents um i'll throw some quick numbers out at you and let's chat about

00:18:39.060 the abuse of the asylum system oh because i've been i've been down to peter street here in toronto

00:18:44.100 which is a welcoming center where people literally get off the plane at pearson and are shuttled downtown

00:18:49.700 to a shelter system where they can't get a shelter bed at one point earlier this year uh toronto over

00:18:55.860 the last decade increased the number of shelter beds from about five thousand just shy of five thousand

00:19:01.140 to ten thousand and still earlier this year sixty percent of our shelter beds were filled with

00:19:06.340 asylum seekers why is that that was never a huge problem before well because the asylum system's 1.00

00:19:12.020 being abused 2014 16 000 oh no sorry 2015 it was 16 000 people claimed asylum in canada last year 190 000

00:19:24.180 and there's almost 300 000 waiting for their hearing still this is backdoor immigration this is backdoor

00:19:30.820 economic migration it is it's it's a um there's a great article in the economist a couple of months

00:19:37.460 ago and this is the economist it's not like a bastion of conservative thought saying like talking about

00:19:42.100 the abuse of asylum systems in western countries writ large but i think that there's no greater example

00:19:47.540 than canada right now so to your point uh when the liberals took government there was a backlog of less

00:19:52.900 than 10 000 people in the asylum system there is now 300 000 people over what happened hashtag

00:19:59.780 welcome to canada 2017 but it started earlier than that too the liberals lifted the visa requirement

00:20:06.100 on mexico without having a plan to put in play or to stop bogus asylum claimants that saw an uptick

00:20:12.740 in numbers but then the minute that justin trudeau rolled the red carpet out for people illegally

00:20:17.940 crossing the border from upstate to new york into canada and then called me i was the immigration

00:20:22.660 critic at the time essentially implied that i was a racist for saying that the safe third country

00:20:27.620 agreement should be strengthened they had to do it again later um it it normalized um people crossing

00:20:34.740 into the country claiming asylum and then here's the kicker brian it takes about four years for asylum

00:20:40.100 an asylum claim to be processed in many circumstances right and during that time people regardless if their

00:20:46.580 claim is valid or not they have access to uh the liberals have spent over two billion dollars on

00:20:53.220 hotels and food and shelter for uh asylum claimants uh provincial benefits uh the city of toronto has a

00:21:00.180 budget hole of a hundred million dollars it's crazy this year a hundred million dollars because of the

00:21:05.060 costs of housing people through this and that's not fair it's not fair to people who have legitimate

00:21:10.980 asylum claims who are waiting for years in the system who are actually for coming that are actually 0.99

00:21:15.620 fleeing persecution it's not fair to the people who are waiting abroad through like privately sponsored 0.99

00:21:22.100 refugee streams that are in refugee camps that are genocide survivors like the yazidi community that 0.88

00:21:27.540 i've been working with for years and it's not fair to canadians who have their social services abused by

00:21:33.140 people who do not have valid asylum claims right like health care it's it's bananas you mentioned 0.89

00:21:39.380 the yazidis i remember jason kenny when it was minister bringing in the karens from uh from burma um

00:21:46.100 you can think of you know the the great effort for bringing in syrian refugees fleeing that war or

00:21:51.540 vietnam fleeing that war and now our number one uh claim for asylum seekers becomes india followed by mexico

00:21:59.940 like look i'm sorry those are not valid claims and we should not be accepting them

00:22:04.740 the government finally put in some they put back in some but not all of the visa requirements for

00:22:10.500 mexico and numbers fell by half but they need to go down further after i told them so 10 years ago but

00:22:16.660 i digress but i mean you know this is making a mockery of a system that's supposed to be there to

00:22:23.140 help people if you want to be an economic migrant get in line follow the rules exactly i mean i encourage

00:22:29.860 that that that is what my family did that is what everyone in my neighborhood growing up did

00:22:34.100 and and that's the liberals like why can't they just say that it follow the rules when they say

00:22:39.460 that it's it's fair and you restore order like you're acknowledging that are there are people who

00:22:45.220 want to come to this country and play by the rules right so like i i just want to say something very

00:22:51.460 quickly there is a difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker a refugee under canadian law

00:22:56.260 somebody who or process is somebody who's been selected to come to canada and their claim has

00:23:00.980 already been approved by the canadian government before they come to canada you know from refugee 0.57

00:23:05.860 camps through the privately sponsored refugee process asylum claimants are people who have

00:23:10.820 somehow had the privilege and fortune of making it to canada and then claim asylum okay so that 300 000

00:23:19.860 number these are people who have made it to canada many of which who have illegally crossed the

00:23:24.260 border from upstate new york into the u.s claimed asylum and are sitting here waiting for their claim

00:23:29.060 to be heard they have appeals processes sometimes it can take years and years to get to the final end

00:23:35.460 of this process and then oftentimes there's difficulties in removing them from the country 0.96

00:23:40.180 and knowing that that process takes so long and that they can receive benefits through it it incensed

00:23:47.140 the abuse of the system oh they also get work permits too right so i'm not saying all asylum seekers are

00:23:53.700 bogus there are legitimate people there but but there's a lot who are there's a lot of bogus

00:24:00.420 asylum claimants and we need to have some courage to say that like the system's broken you can go 1.00

00:24:06.180 online and find the ways that people are coached to come here and it was happening during rocksham

00:24:10.580 road it's happening since uh i've got a friend whose son works at the airport and they hear the same story

00:24:16.500 over and over again on just about every international flight that they deal with coming in

00:24:21.700 why do they get told the same stories because that's what people are coached to say if you say

00:24:26.340 this yep they have to take you in canada and unfortunately as i said an abuse of the system

00:24:32.020 you mentioned deportations we have to take a quick break when we come back i want to ask you about that

00:24:36.180 because we can't seem to to deport criminals never mind anybody else so will there be a plan

00:24:42.420 with more than a million visas expiring back in moments this is tristan hopper the host of canada 0.99

00:24:50.100 did what where we unpack the biggest weirdest and wildest political moments in canadian history you

00:24:55.860 thought you knew and tell you what really happened stick around at the end of the episode to hear a

00:25:01.300 sample of one of our favorite episodes if you don't want to stick around make sure you subscribe to

00:25:06.740 canada did what everywhere you get podcasts just to reiterate by the end of this year nearly five

00:25:13.460 million people will be in canada with expired or expiring visas and the government has no plan

00:25:20.580 on how they're going to get them to leave we have a housing crisis a youth jobs crisis health

00:25:25.460 care wait time crisis and knowing this the liberals have already issued nearly 177 000 new temporary

00:25:33.460 foreign work permits this year a 10 percent increase from the last quarter that's the same amount of

00:25:39.220 people as kelowna well a youth with a youth unemployment crisis why did the government increase the number of

00:25:45.780 temporary work permits this year the honorable minister of immigration refugees and citizenship

00:25:53.780 mr speaker we take our immigration system very seriously on this side of the aisle as i know most canada

00:26:01.780 all canadians do and for that reason we are strengthening the integrity of our system while maintaining the

00:26:09.140 humanitarian ability that we have in this country make no mistake canada takes its obligations seriously

00:26:18.180 and we are strengthening our asylum system to make it more efficient and more uh more efficient and flexible

00:26:26.020 and we will be doing exactly that that was the notorious mrg grilling mark carney's immigration

00:26:32.740 minister earlier will we see more of that mrg by the way michelle rumple garner our guest on the program 0.99

00:26:38.820 today uh more than a million visas expiring and no plan for removing people look i don't think anyone

00:26:47.300 in canada wants to see what's going on with ice in the u.s right now well maybe some do but i don't think

00:26:53.220 that's what people are are looking for but what are the chances that we can remove people or even

00:26:58.660 encourage people to leave when we have tens of thousands of wanted criminals in this country who

00:27:06.820 we have lost track of that's that's canada border services agency puts that at every year the number

00:27:12.420 is always between 25 and 30 000 that they've just lost so where do you even start on this yes of course

00:27:20.100 the liberals need a plan to ensure that people who do not have a legal right in the country leave

00:27:27.940 i mean but that's the whole point of a temporary visa you come you leave it's why we have a visa

00:27:34.660 approval process people are rejected based on whether or not the government thinks that they're

00:27:38.820 going to leave or not so i think that there are several ways that the liberals can uh incent people to

00:27:46.180 leave on time uh you know our party leader and myself will have more to say about that in coming

00:27:53.620 weeks um but i the fact that they can't answer that question it it talks to the ethos of the liberal

00:28:02.100 government when it comes to uh immigration i i honestly don't like they don't think about this

00:28:07.540 they especially sean frazier with that glut we were talking about earlier of people that he invited to

00:28:12.420 canada through temporary student visas and kind of said hey you know like when can a nod don't worry

00:28:18.100 you're going to be able to stay here and it's like yeah but i mean this is sean frazier this is the guy

00:28:22.580 that says defending yourself in your own home is the wild west as opposed to clearly established canadian

00:28:28.100 common law sean he's a nice guy but like he really sucks as a cabinet minister fryan like 0.99

00:28:34.260 oh he does performance issues there hey so yeah and like the the thing i'll i'll mention too about

00:28:41.860 that was that the numbers of people that he brought into the country he was warned by the his department

00:28:47.060 and he said this this is too much too fast he did it anyways so um it is going to be a topic of debate

00:28:52.980 in the house i can guarantee well i i know it will be um because i'll be involved in it on on how how

00:28:58.820 the government is going to get people to leave who don't have a legal right to be in the country 1.00

00:29:03.860 do you think that they will have anything to respond with and i'm talking about the people

00:29:09.540 whose visas are expired not criminals just people whose visas have expired they haven't left

00:29:15.220 do you have any reason to believe that they will have an answer beyond racist

00:29:21.540 well they need to i mean you talked about canadian i mean i'm not sure because the previous government

00:29:30.260 this new guy we're told will deliver the previous government wasn't really into delivering i don't

00:29:35.380 think mark carney's into delivering either but i digress i mean well i'm starting to get that after

00:29:40.580 the major projects yes but but i mean that has been their go-to for years is just if you want any

00:29:49.460 changes to the immigration system that aren't bringing more people faster that you're racist

00:29:54.340 if you want an orderly system that works as it did under liberal and conservative governments for years

00:29:59.700 then you are somehow racist will they just fall back on that or will they come up with

00:30:05.780 a plan that doesn't just involve saying okay well you're all permanent residents now so uh stay but

00:30:11.380 like like when people talk about the word canadian there's there's an implication of diversity in that

00:30:17.300 so when i say you know when you come to coming to canada is a privilege it's not a right and there

00:30:23.220 are responsibilities associated with that privilege including if you come to canada on a temporary visa

00:30:28.740 you have to leave when your visa expires right so like that's what the law says that's what the law

00:30:35.140 has said for years across different stripes and flavors of government so um no and and you know you

00:30:42.420 talked about those numbers the polling numbers about people's perception of immigration and desire

00:30:47.380 of immigration if people if canadians think that the system is so broken that people just come to

00:30:53.540 the country and never have to leave or never don't have to follow the rules then of course there's not

00:30:58.420 going to be a support for the broken immigration system so conservatives are going to it's not the

00:31:02.820 immigrants fault it is the liberals fault for breaking the system and conservatives are going to restore 1.00

00:31:07.620 order to that this fall from the opposition benches i promise you we are going to be pushing on these

00:31:12.900 issues you think that there will be enough public pressure that they will have to do something

00:31:18.500 i don't think that this is an issue that's that's contained to one partisan stripe you know the fact

00:31:24.580 that david eby came out uh ndp premier david eby came out and said the temporary foreign worker program

00:31:30.340 needs to be scrapped i think that there's a a a growing consensus across partisan stripes that the

00:31:36.740 broken immigration system the the fact that the liberals have broke it um is what has caused that

00:31:42.580 decline in support for canada's you know immigration consensus and so the imperative has to be to fix it

00:31:49.540 i don't see the ndp proposing fixes right now i hope they will open invitation um but we are going to be

00:31:55.300 proposing fixes that are common sense that support canadians and and also you know support the principle

00:32:01.220 of people who want to come to canada by playing by the rules to build a better life it has to be done in an

00:32:05.860 orderly way in numbers that are not what the liberals have put forward in the past premier

00:32:11.460 eby came out in support of that after you and pierre pauliev made statements about the temporary

00:32:17.140 foreign worker program being broken and after the new jobs report showed that youth unemployment in

00:32:24.420 his province had gone up to almost 13 i think it went up from 12.1 to 12.9 next door to bc in your

00:32:31.780 home province youth unemployment dropped last month from 20 percent to 17 but not because more youth

00:32:38.820 got jobs but because more youth stopped looking for work same thing in ontario where i think youth

00:32:44.900 unemployment is about 15 16 these are big massive problems that you've got to deal with you know as

00:32:51.300 you say you've you're encouraging an indentured underclass by bringing people in to do these jobs but

00:32:57.860 you're also keeping young people that are already here from the workforce that's going to have long

00:33:03.380 term implications if you don't fix it a hundred percent like you nailed it if you think about what

00:33:08.580 happens if you know kids can't get jobs through their early or late teen years early uh formative

00:33:15.380 years in their 20s when they're going to college that is a lack of skill set it's it's like you know

00:33:20.340 shutting the schools down in the pandemic for two years right these kids didn't get the benefit of in-class

00:33:25.780 time of socialization of of in-person learning um if you don't get that hands-on job experience if

00:33:32.180 you don't have that first job how are you going to get the experience you need to move up or start

00:33:37.380 learn how to start a business right and and when you think about technological disruption right now

00:33:42.740 we're essentially by by having an out of whack immigration system we're incenting um a long-term

00:33:49.620 problem with the domestic labor force but it's not just the immigration system brian it's also the

00:33:53.620 fact that the economy is not creating jobs right now so the liberals need to understand

00:33:57.780 that they have been using immigration numbers to artificially you know inflate canada's uh overall

00:34:03.780 gdp numbers they've been sort of hiding the fact that our economic our economy has been slow in in

00:34:09.060 slow down for some time um but these programs have depressed wages they've taken opportunities from

00:34:14.660 canadians and also i think it's worth noting that some canadians who are here on some types of

00:34:19.300 temporary work visas like foreign student permits they can't find work either so then you hear you

00:34:24.740 have these stories of these kids who are invited to canada to study and they end up sleeping under

00:34:28.980 bridges toronto there was a really terrible story in toronto i think it was a couple years ago it

00:34:33.540 might have been been your story about um peel area uh property listings like basically i think it was

00:34:39.300 saying like trading sex services for rent or something like that like like i don't remember that one i do

00:34:44.660 remember i believe it was 25 people yes and in one home you know i've seen all of these stories and

00:34:51.380 i'm just like okay something is wrong here um so yeah obviously that the numbers have been out of whack

00:34:57.300 um and there needs to be way less people uh so that immigration matches health housing health care and

00:35:03.940 jobs again and right now that that that number we're we're way out of whack it's it's not uh it's not

00:35:10.020 aligning with those macroeconomic factors okay we've got a few minutes left i want to ask you about

00:35:14.900 the economic factors it's it's it's not your file but you're an experienced politician you're a smart

00:35:19.700 woman you can have views beyond immigration uh let's talk about how the the carny government is or isn't 0.82

00:35:27.060 delivering they had their big major projects announcement last week um no oil pipeline on it

00:35:33.940 but my initial assessment was beyond the fact that there's no oil pipeline on there and i think

00:35:39.940 there needs to be the projects that were there were projects that were already going to be moving

00:35:46.500 forward um and they're not overly ambitious so like the twinning of uh canada lng up to kitamat the uh

00:35:56.020 expansion of small modular reactors at darlington in ontario the uh expansion of the port of montreal these

00:36:02.900 were all things that were going to be happening so where is this we need to think bigger we need to

00:36:08.740 think big and act bigger and move at speeds we've never seen before this is this is a slow crawl of

00:36:14.660 baby steps i woke up this morning and i read the announcement and you know what came to mind do you

00:36:20.420 know that meme of like the charcoal horse that starts with like really detailed in the back and it turns

00:36:26.820 into like a stick figure in the front and i'm thinking like you know what mark harney promised with the

00:36:32.580 major project list versus what he delivered right he promised all these grand things and it turned out to be

00:36:37.300 like a stick figure of projects that have they're important but they've already been approved they're

00:36:41.380 already in the can where's the bull nation building projects that you know mark carney elbows up during

00:36:47.940 the campaign where are they where's the pipeline where's where's the grid infrastructure where he's

00:36:52.980 got a second list of projects that he says will come down the road but they're not ready yet well those

00:36:58.260 are the ones you should be pushing the um the hydroelectric or not hydroelectric but the the

00:37:03.700 wind farm project the offshore wind farm project that uh tim houston's pushing in nova scotia i've

00:37:09.380 talked to premier houston about that that could be a major project he's just yeah down the road we'll

00:37:14.260 do that or you know my favorite is that they've put this on there as a major nation building project

00:37:19.620 for the economy high-speed rail between toronto and quebec city how does that help people in calgary

00:37:24.660 nose hill so so this is how i would respond the liberals can't build things fight me like what

00:37:30.180 have they built they certainly haven't signaled anything that they're going to build and i mean

00:37:34.260 you want to talk about calgary nose hill here is my therapeutic rant brian really in 2015 before we

00:37:41.300 we we lost government jason kenney and i announced one 1.5 billion dollars to build an lrt in calgary the

00:37:48.660 infamous green line you know and then it went from stretching all the way across the city to uh being

00:37:56.100 four times the cost and four times less track and it hasn't been built and they like it's a half a

00:38:00.740 billion dollars plus it's been spent this is what you get from liberal flavors of government at all

00:38:06.100 different stripes but certainly the federal government has no idea how to build things like

00:38:10.740 from procurement of military stuff to major projects so you know when i saw this this morning that's why

00:38:16.980 to me it just reduced into a meme because it's like they are a meme they're a meme on this stuff

00:38:22.020 he comes out and he's like oh yeah we're gonna build these projects like well like i thought he was the

00:38:27.780 ceo of a big you know successful company is this how he managed brookfield like where where's the deal

00:38:34.340 flow for canadians mark you know if brookfield's board was looking at this stuff and the promise

00:38:41.060 the promise that he was supposed to deliver was big bold projects that are going to build the canadian

00:38:46.100 economy well where's the moonshot that we were promised where's my pipeline like i i think the

00:38:52.660 canadians should have righteous anger on this because they were sold a bill of goods with this

00:38:57.140 guy and this list it just proves it right and to finish my therapeutic rant that they're creating

00:39:04.340 this bureaucracy the major projects office oh yes that's what we need is another office filled with

00:39:10.900 bureaucrats that are going to further make it harder and put more red tape up for projects 1.00

00:39:15.780 getting built like i i've uh so yeah let me ask you about talk about this fall so i because i have

00:39:24.900 issues with this list as i said well beyond the pipeline like don't tell me that you know essentially

00:39:31.540 they're you know pissing on my leg and tell me it's raining when they say these are big nation building

00:39:36.500 projects that's the top line they need to be done but an oil pipeline should be a no-brainer

00:39:43.540 and their response is but no company is proposing it yeah well why would that be i was sitting with

00:39:50.500 uh alberta premier danielle smith last week at canada strong and free network event in calgary

00:39:55.860 and she was blunt she said what company is going to step forward when the regulatory environment

00:40:01.940 remains the same that you cannot build that you cannot expand production that you cannot do anything

00:40:08.500 of course they're not going to so shouldn't he be saying let's change the regulatory environment

00:40:13.780 my girl danielle spot on yes of course and like this is business basics 101 like if you and i

00:40:22.500 were charged with coming up let's say we were running a company and it's like okay well this project

00:40:28.980 you know it could deliver you know a lot of profit and jobs and benefits over a set period of time

00:40:34.580 but you look at the regulatory environment it's like this is never going to get built because of a

00:40:39.380 lack of political will um uh slow and onerous and pedantic and unclear regulatory process

00:40:47.460 like we like the liberals put in place with um the no more uh pipelines bill the the anti-tanker bill

00:40:53.620 of course nobody's gonna like of course well there's no proponent it's it's a chicken and

00:40:57.940 the egg argument it's a logical fallacy nobody is going to build this unless the government gets out

00:41:03.780 of the way the government needs to get get out of the way let business do these things we can have

00:41:10.340 all the environmental reviews all the consultations all of our duties to consult check check check we can

00:41:15.860 do that but like today they signaled no we're not going to do that so of course there's not

00:41:21.460 not going to be a proponent danielle's right she's 100 right on this anyway okay i'll ask you one

00:41:27.460 last question you fired me up this morning brian lilly i'm getting ready for the house in the fall

00:41:32.500 well one more question as the house resumes and that is do you change the way you approach things

00:41:38.580 like question period and i'll ask in this context i remember talking to a very smart political operative

00:41:45.060 before justin trudeau resigned and they said you can't hit justin trudeau hard enough right now

00:41:49.700 you can hit them as hard as you want and the public loves it um and they were worried at that

00:41:54.020 point that you know trudeau might resign and some like melanie jolie would go in and you know you

00:41:58.580 can't you can't treat her the same way you did trudeau well it's a new guy and in some ways but not

00:42:05.300 really a new government how do you approach it with a different view and tone because canadians were fed

00:42:13.220 up with trudeau they're not yet fed up with this guy but they want results so how do you approach it

00:42:17.700 what do you do that's going to be different than what you did before well we started by outlining

00:42:23.540 our priorities right so conservative leader pierre polyev came out this week with a open letter to the

00:42:29.700 government on what our priorities are it's basically like get ready for qp here's what we're going to be

00:42:34.660 focusing on and those four priority areas distilled down into what we are hearing from the from the

00:42:41.700 country are areas that the the government is not offering solutions to the public on so obviously

00:42:47.380 economy cost of living affordability housing uh crime and immigration so you know as much as i spent

00:42:56.180 the summer putting together a set of policy proposals uh to hold the liberals to account i've announced

00:43:01.620 two of them a bill on um preventing uh the judiciary from considering immigration status and sentencing

00:43:09.460 violent criminals or serious criminals we didn't even talk about that that's another we started tfw i've

00:43:14.980 got a whole kitty of stuff my colleagues have been working all summer pierre's been working like so hard

00:43:20.500 poor guy he's had a cold all summer he's worked super hard um but we're going into the fall with a set of

00:43:26.260 constructive policies that are going to offer common sense solutions to the country and my like like pierre's been

00:43:31.940 saying this over and over again steal these ideas take them please take them here we're doing your job

00:43:38.020 for you liberals who have tens of thousands of bureaucrats and i have my you know trusty team

00:43:43.220 of five staff shout out to them but we're going to offer solutions and we've always been doing that um

00:43:50.180 but if the liberals don't play ball with us on it it's it's not just to their political detriment it's

00:43:55.300 the detriment of the entire country and that's what we're going to be pointing out this is common

00:44:00.340 sense stuff like the tfw program is common sense the the judiciary thing is common sense uh pierre

00:44:06.420 announced bail reform today we have a bail reform bill they haven't put forward a bail reform bill

00:44:11.060 that makes sense in years and years and years we're going to be tabling that a housing plan right so

00:44:18.660 i hope they take those ideas it is going to be fascinating to watch and i'm sure the audience will

00:44:23.380 love getting their fill of the notorious mrg in the house michelle remblegarner thanks so much

00:44:29.460 always a pleasure bright full comment is a post media podcast my name is brian lily your host

00:44:34.100 this episode was produced by andre pru theme music by bryce hall kevin libban is the executive

00:44:39.220 producer make sure you hit subscribe anywhere that you listen to your podcast help us out by

00:44:44.020 leaving as a review or a rating thanks for listening until next time i'm brian lily

00:44:48.740 here's that clip from canada did what i promised you

00:45:02.100 castro would end up occupying a space in the trudeau family similar to that of a beloved uncle

00:45:08.100 they went diving they smoked cigars together they gathered sea urchins for beach cookouts

00:45:13.780 informal talks at an island hideaway intensified their respect for each other and their mutual

00:45:20.660 enjoyment of skin diving added to the rapport in addition to a well-publicized 1976 summit meeting

00:45:27.620 trudeau took three separate vacations to visit castro after his time in politics had ended i can make you

00:45:33.940 know you know just one uh reference to uh pierre trudeau's sons uh to show the closeness of the

00:45:43.220 relationship the nickname that the trudeau sons had for fidel castro was papa fidel so that gives you

00:45:50.500 an indication of of the closeness of the bond that existed between a communist dictator you know thorn

00:45:58.820 in the side of every american administration for the past 50 years and pure trudeau when trudeau's

00:46:05.540 youngest son michelle died in an avalanche in 1998 castro called the family in tears to express

00:46:12.180 his condolences as an eight-year-old michelle had referred to fidel castro as his best friend when

00:46:19.140 pierre died fidel declared three days of mourning in cuba and flew to montreal to act as an honorary

00:46:24.980 pallbearer every time trudeau went down to cuba um all the people in south florida the the you know the

00:46:32.500 exiles were thinking why is this western leader giving comfort uh to a murderous dictator you know who

00:46:40.740 is oppressing their people in cuba and saying you know good things about about fidel castro and as

00:46:45.860 i've mentioned to have him in the pew at trudeau's funeral in the front row um as as a as a as a dignified

00:46:55.220 person when he had been um he'd been such a a brutal leader says more about pierre trudeau than it does about

00:47:04.740 fidel castro here's where we should probably touch on what castro had done and what he was continuing

00:47:10.180 to do while going on beach vacations with the trudeau family if you want to hear the rest of

00:47:16.340 the story make sure you subscribe to canada did what everywhere you get your podcasts

Full Comment - September 15, 2025

Think runaway immigration is being fixed？ Think again

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