Juno News - Trudeau-era minister given cushy UN role

00:00:00.000 a union president warns that canada's understaffed border security agency is prioritizing

00:00:11.160 solicitation over public safety jeopardizing national security by relying on phone apps

00:00:18.080 instead of in-depth human interviews a former trudeau era liberal minister has been awarded

00:00:24.600 a new position as canada's ambassador to the un despite leaving behind a scandalous legacy

00:00:31.700 from his time in government conservative criticism is escalating against liberal immigration minister

00:00:38.140 lena diab after a conservative mp alleged rejected asylum seekers receive better health benefits than

00:00:46.940 many canadian citizens hello canada it's friday november 21st and this is the true north daily

00:00:53.820 brief i'm cosmon gerja and i'm clayton de min we've got you covered with all the news you need to know

00:01:00.220 let's discuss the top stories of the day in the true north exclusives you won't hear anywhere else

00:01:06.280 canada's border security is at risk according to a union president who warns that the federal agency

00:01:15.600 is dangerously understaffed relying too heavily on phone apps over human interviews and prioritizing

00:01:23.300 quote facilitation over keeping the country safe mark weber national president of the customs and

00:01:31.200 immigration union testified during a house of commons immigration committee meeting studying the

00:01:37.940 liberals bill c12 also known as the strong borders act weber stated that the measures in the new bill

00:01:45.780 would be ineffective unless the canada border services agencies budget and staffing issues

00:01:52.420 were resolved weber said certain aspects of the bill were positive including addressing the cbsa's

00:01:59.540 current lack of access to import and export facilities he noted that the agency currently cannot conduct

00:02:06.580 inspections on certain modes of export and import such as rail due to a quote now well-established lack of

00:02:14.260 staff and facilities weber acknowledged that bill c12 aims to speed up the refugee claim process and

00:02:21.540 reduce what the government calls quote lengthy processing times and backlogs however he argued

00:02:28.020 that the issue would be far less considerable if the agency's sustained understaffing were addressed

00:02:34.740 during his testimony weber highlighted that the cbsa lacks the staff to conduct what he outlined as

00:02:40.820 critical in-person interviews with individuals attempting to cross into canada he added that the agency now

00:02:48.100 relies on a phone app called one touch to process refugee claims weber said quote one touch means claimants

00:02:56.740 spend significantly less time meaningfully interacting with officers with the result of reduced security for

00:03:03.940 the sake of expediency interactions between officers and anyone who seeks to enter the country be they

00:03:10.340 travelers or refugee claimants are a key component of border security while being questioned by conservative

00:03:17.140 mp brad redikop weber called the one touch app a quote terrible thing he said it replaced critical security

00:03:24.740 screening done by human agents and that the cbsa was now prioritizing serving migrants and refugees

00:03:32.500 while putting border security on the back burner in essence uh to speed things up because we are

00:03:38.660 short-staffed we're allowing people into the country without first doing that security screening um okay

00:03:44.500 hold hold on a second here so so you're saying that a refugee claimant coming to canada

00:03:52.020 goes to a machine and says i want to be a refugee in canada hits a button and they're in the country is

00:03:58.500 that what you're saying yeah it's it's not a machine it's an application so the one touch system

00:04:02.900 they're given instructions on how to use that that connects directly with ircc and they're given

00:04:07.700 that documentation to complete on their own once they're in the country we're not doing that so

00:04:12.820 basically they take out their phone theoretically and they tap it a few times and they are now

00:04:18.420 in the country as as a refugee accepted by our country uh yes we get some basic data from them and

00:04:23.700 again we do the biometrics beyond that they're doing that on their own yes clayton from following

00:04:29.140 this bill i know it was introduced a few months ago but it has undergone some significant changes

00:04:36.900 what do we know about the strong borders act and how will it determine how the government handles

00:04:44.020 border issues if it's passed yeah so the liberal government originally introduced the bill

00:04:50.180 first as bill c2 in september and it immediately faced backlash from civil liberties groups who

00:04:57.940 warned that the bill would violate canadians privacy rights the bill is aimed at strengthening powers to

00:05:04.420 help secure canada's border but it allowed canada post and police to open seize and retain mail it would

00:05:12.100 expand cesus powers and enable warrantless access to personal information it would require electronic

00:05:19.860 service providers to secretly give data to authorities while gagging them for a year from disclosing what

00:05:26.420 they compiled critics said the bill's scope was excessive and it added civil liberties violations to a bill

00:05:34.020 that would otherwise just be on border measures so the liberals ended up splitting this bill now bill c12

00:05:41.860 keeps many of the c2's border security reforms but removes the most controversial surveillance powers

00:05:49.460 including warrantless access to subscriber data opening mail and a ten thousand dollar cash transaction cap

00:05:57.460 the new bill still contains major immigration and border provisions and would expand cbsa's power

00:06:05.060 data sharing measures and limits on refugee hearings for people in canada for over a year

00:06:11.860 so this cbsa union boss we just um heard from said he actually welcomes a lot of the new powers in the bill

00:06:20.580 but that much of it would be nearly meaningless if the cbsa still lacks the funding staff and political will

00:06:27.860 to get anything done and conservatives are pointing out that there are many flaws with the bill as it doesn't

00:06:34.020 disincentivize fraud in like the asylum claims for example or make it easier to deport people or effectively

00:06:42.500 deal with convicted criminals already in our borders using or abusing the immigration system

00:06:54.420 despite a record of controversy former trudeau era justice minister david lametti is back in the public

00:07:01.540 service after prime minister mark carney appointed him as canada's new ambassador to the united nations

00:07:08.100 in september lametti officially took up the post on tuesday the former montreal mp will represent canada

00:07:16.420 at the un replacing bob ray who held the position for five years lametti served as minister of justice and

00:07:23.940 attorney general from 2019 to 2023 stepping into the role after the dismissal of jody wilson raybold

00:07:31.780 she was removed from cabinet after resisting political pressure in the prosecution of snc lavalin

00:07:39.460 an episode that triggered one of the most damaging ethics scandals of the trudeau era and led to high

00:07:45.700 profile firings within the liberal government as attorney general lametti defended the federal government's use

00:07:52.900 of the emergencies act to end the 2022 freedom convoy protests in ottawa the first time the legislation

00:08:00.900 had ever been invoked the decision was later ruled unlawful by a federal court judge raising renewed

00:08:08.420 concerns about civil liberties and government overreach his time as justice minister also drew scrutiny

00:08:15.620 over the ideological tilt of federal judicial appointments among lametti's appointees was ontario

00:08:22.420 superior court justice reynou manhain who recently disqualified a loaded illegal firearm as evidence in a case

00:08:31.140 against a black driver ruling that peel police had engaged in racial profiling a separate case involving

00:08:38.260 federal court justice avi yaoyao go has also sparked criticism after she granted a stay of deportation for a

00:08:47.700 indian non-citizen with multiple criminal convictions citing his wife's adhd as a determining factor

00:08:55.780 so cosmon what sort of message does this send to current liberal mps that an np plagued by a scandal

00:09:02.580 could still be rewarded so long as they remain loyal to the party yeah i think it's also important to ask

00:09:09.780 what message does it send to canadians and i think what we're seeing is that as long as you stay loyal to the

00:09:17.140 party leadership in the liberal party of canada it doesn't really matter how controversial your record

00:09:23.860 is for a person like lametti this is very obvious i think a lot of people remember lametti for what he

00:09:32.420 did during the freedom convoy his role in the unprecedented use of the emergencies act so you can

00:09:39.860 preside over major scandals you can make decisions that eventually get struck down in court as the

00:09:46.820 attorney general you can also be at the center of national outrage and still you get to land one of

00:09:53.860 the most prestigious and cushy diplomatic jobs in the country just because you were loyal not because

00:10:00.820 you were actually serving canadians so what does that tell mps and canadians at large well i think it

00:10:09.300 tells them the real currency is not accountability or performance in ottawa it's just loyalty sticking

00:10:17.220 with the team you know defending the party line and eventually somewhere down the road you'll get

00:10:24.900 rewarded and i think that's a dangerous incentive structure for any government but unfortunately that's

00:10:32.740 just where party politics is at in this country but especially with the liberal government who has been

00:10:39.460 holding the reins for quite some time now immigration minister lena dyab is under fire after a conservative

00:10:50.100 mp blasted the liberal government for giving rejected asylum claimants better health benefits than many

00:10:57.860 canadian citizens during a house of commons health committee meeting on tuesday mp matt strauss questioned

00:11:06.100 dyab after she couldn't provide data on the number of rejected refugee claims strauss said he was quote

00:11:13.700 dumbfounded that the minister lacked the information strauss asked dyab if an individual continued to receive

00:11:21.940 health care support from the interim federal health program after their refugee claim is denied

00:11:28.340 the minister initially said quote no but quickly added that quote it follows through the process

00:11:35.860 and once the process is concluded it ends if somebody's refugee claim is denied do they continue

00:11:42.820 to get all of this coverage and you said no here i have your website it says as a refugee claimant you'll

00:11:50.020 get ifhp coverage if your claim for refugee protection has been rejected by the irb so did you lie to the

00:11:57.140 committee or is your website lying excuse me i said did you lie to the committee or is your website lying

00:12:06.660 did you mislead the committee or is the website misleading not in the job of doing that thank you very much

00:12:12.500 it's not something that is in my dictionary either so what i said is the interim federal health

00:12:18.580 program provides temporary health care coverage to address urgent and essential medical needs for

00:12:25.220 refugees and asylum claimants while they wait to become eligible for provincial and territorial

00:12:31.700 health insurance plans and that and then i asked if your refugee claim is denied do you continue to receive

00:12:37.220 coverage and here your website says you continue to receive coverage if your claim is denied if your

00:12:41.780 refugee claim is denied i said they continue to receive claims until all the refugee process is concluded

00:12:49.140 in september conservative immigration critic michelle rempel garner noted that the ifhp funds services that

00:12:57.780 many canadians do not receive or must pay for themselves such as pharmaceuticals vision care counseling

00:13:06.020 assistive devices prosthetics home care nursing homes and physiotherapy and occupational speech therapy the

00:13:15.620 fund has ballooned to more than 12 times the amount taxpayers paid for it just nine years ago government data

00:13:22.420 shows that taxpayers paid 66 million dollars to the fund in 2016 to 2017 compared to a preliminary estimate

00:13:32.100 of over 821 million dollars for the 2025 to 2026 fiscal year as of september a 1144 increase she deferred

00:13:45.460 the responsibility for that part of the process to the immigration and refugee board itself though

00:13:52.020 strauss noted that federal funds go to the program and federal ministers should be responsible for how

00:13:58.580 taxpayer money is spent so what is the solution to this because obviously pointing something out is important

00:14:06.100 but there needs to be a solution proposed so what are conservatives proposing and how can we fix this issue

00:14:14.100 when we have so-called refugees whose claims are denied and they're presumably not supposed to be

00:14:20.740 here because they're not here on a legitimate claim receiving health benefits that are better than most

00:14:26.980 canadians yeah cause and so conservatives just yesterday voted to bring the auditor general and

00:14:34.100 parliamentary budget officer to investigate just how the money is being used in the interim federal health

00:14:40.740 program and notably all of the liberals tried to vote against it but a block quebecois person does sit

00:14:49.540 on the committee and they voted with the conservatives one thing they are pointing out is that doctors are

00:14:55.060 often told to charge individuals using this program up to five times the amount that regular citizens pay for

00:15:02.100 the same or less services so the federal taxpayer is not getting good value for their taxes and the federal

00:15:09.620 government is just signing checks but michelle rempelgarner the conservative immigration critic

00:15:15.220 released a suite of amendments to bill c12 that we were just talking about um conservatives want to

00:15:21.540 ban anyone who has failed in their refugee claim from getting any health coverage that isn't just emergency

00:15:28.100 health care they want to reduce the incentives for people to stay in the country beyond their asylum claim

00:15:35.380 i mean the immigration officials said this week that the ifhp will pay for anyone until they leave the

00:15:42.980 country so this is even after the process um the amendments also aim to make it easier to kick out

00:15:50.740 fraudulent asylum claimants such as people who return back to their country that they are seeking refuge

00:15:58.340 from while they wait for the claim for their supposed asylum for those who straight up lie to border

00:16:05.220 officers to similarly be have their their claims terminated so they hope to reduce the amount of

00:16:11.940 fraudsters using uh this system that gives them better services than most canadians have um just

00:16:20.100 trying to tweak it since they are just the opposition

00:16:22.660 that's it for today folks thanks for tuning in you can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by

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Juno News - November 21, 2025

Trudeau-era minister given cushy UN role

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