Hon. Alice Wong, P.C.

On May 8, 2018, Alice Wong asked a question during Question Period. The topic was on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, every day the wait gets longer for those fleeing war and genuine persecution, as the government uses its resources for those who jump the queue. The Liberals have reassigned 80 agents from processing legitimate immigration applications that have long wait times. These agents are now dealing with queue jumpers instead of real applicants. How is that fair and compassionate?

Hon. Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, only the Harper Conservatives would talk about border security after they cut almost $400 million from border security operations.

Only the Harper Conservatives would pretend to care about compassionate treatment of refugees after they cut refugee health care to the most vulnerable people, pregnant women, and victims of torture.

Only the Harper Conservatives would pretend to care about immigration processing and people stuck in backlogs after we inherited those backlogs from them and are working hard to clear them and improve processing times.

We have no lessons to take from the Conservatives on this issue.

On May 7, 2018, Alice Wong asked a question during Question Period. The topic was on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, truly vulnerable refugees in the world do not have the means to fly to the United States and sneak across the Canadian border. Many anguish in refugee camps, waiting in a 45,000 case private sponsorship backlog. They cannot jump the line, yet the Liberals are allowing others to do just that. How is that fair or compassionate?

Hon. Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, the Harper Conservatives would not know what compassion is if it hit them in the face.

The Harper Conservatives cut $400 million from border security operations, and they pretend to care about the border. The Harper Conservatives kept families apart, with spouses, live-in caregivers, children, and others in queues. We inherited a huge, ballooning backlog under the privately sponsored refugees.

The Conservatives have no idea what compassion is about. They did not care about the Yazidi refugees.

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

On May 3, 2018, Alice Wong asked a question during Question Period. The topic was on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, we have heard from vulnerable Syrian refugees. They lack resources, such as language training or the ability to find a job in Canada. One woman was begging for someone who could teach her English, and many more are using food banks.

We know these resources will be stretched further with the influx of illegal border crossers who also use these services. How is that fair?

[Translation]

Mr. Serge Cormier (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, once again, we are talking about two completely different systems.

We are very proud of the commitment our government made to welcome 50,000 Syrian refugees to Canada. We will ensure that these Syrian refugees adapt to our reality and to our country. We will give them every means to succeed in our society. We need these people and we know that they actively contribute to our society. We will do everything we can to ensure that they have the services they need to succeed in our society.

On May 1, 2018, Alice Wong asked a question during Question Period. The topic was on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, this year thousands of people will cross into Canada illegally. The Prime Minister created this mess with his tweet, and he is providing special treatment to those who skip the line and enter Canada illegally. What message does this send to the thousands of immigrants who have followed the rules?

Hon. Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, what the party opposite does not seem to understand is that we can protect the security and safety of Canadians while meeting our international obligations for refugee protection. We have a proud record of doing both. The party opposite wants to set one group of immigrants against another. That is the politics of division and fear that Canadians rejected in 2015.

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I have heard from constituents who are frustrated by wait times to sponsor their families. There is a strict limit on the number of family members who can come to Canada, yet there seems to be no limit to the number of illegal border crossers who are allowed in. Can the Prime Minister please explain how it is fair to keep families apart while rewarding those who break the law?

Hon. Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite is trying to muddy the waters. Its members know very clearly that refugees are processed in a different stream, by the Immigration and Refugee Board, and other immigrants are processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Let us talk about processing times. Under the Conservatives, the processing time for spouses was more than 26 months. Spouses, children, and families were kept apart for a very long time. We have brought that down to 12 months or less.

Let us talk about the live-in caregiver program. Families were kept apart for five to seven years. We have reduced that to 12 months or less.

We have a great—

The Speaker:
The hon. member for Edmonton Manning.

On May 1, 2018, Alice Wong asked a question during the questions and comments period concerning the debate regarding the opposition motion on the Production of Documents on the Carbon Tax.

The motion debated was: That, given the Liberal government made a specific campaign promise to Canadians that “government data and information should be open by default, in formats that are modern and easy to use”, the House hereby order that all documents be produced in their original and uncensored form indicating how much the federal carbon tax proposed in Budget 2018 will cost Canadian families in order to put an end to the carbon tax cover-up.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I really enjoyed the talk by our colleague, who listed how important it is to know the impacts of the carbon tax. My question is on behalf of seniors. In British Columbia the cost of living is very high, and on top of that, the carbon tax actually increases everything. It will be a hardship for everything.

Could the hon. member comment on the impact to seniors? Ironically, the government actually took away the credit for taking mass transit. What is the government doing right now?

Mr. Robert Sopuck:
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for commenting about seniors. Being one myself, it is very close to my heart. The Liberal federal government wants to take us to where Ontario is: high energy prices, high costs, devastating impacts on low-income people. We read stories in Ontario of seniors who look at their hydro bill and say to themselves, “Do I heat or do I eat?” That is the stark issue they are facing.

I represent a fairly low-income constituency. My constituents are tough as nails. They live on low incomes and are self-sufficient and very proud, but they will suffer under the burden of a carbon tax at a time when costs are high everywhere else. When they get in their pickup trucks and drive, it is going to cost even more. The effects on seniors will be more devastating than on anyone else.

The following is a letter sent to Service Canada in regards to the Member of Parliament’s input concerning validation of the 2018 Canada Summer Jobs Program.

If the Member of Parliament does not participate in the validation, the recommendations as provided by Service Canada will remain for the accepted applicants, as deemed by Service Canada.

===================

March 29, 2018

Elsa Chu del Aguila
Director, Citizen Services
Service Canada

Re: Canada Summer Jobs Grant 2018 – Validation

Dear Elsa,

Thank you for the work that you and your staff perform on behalf of Canadians in the Vancouver area. Both our office and myself have been highly appreciative of your efforts in past years, and we continue to be today.

I regret to inform you that I will not be signing the validation of the 2018 list of projects.

Due to directives from the Liberal government, the application process for the Canada Summer Jobs Grant in 2018 required all applicants to agree to an attestation stating (partially), “Both the job and my organization’s core mandate respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as other rights. These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability or sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression”.

The Canada Summer Jobs attestation is little more than a politically motivated intervention. The functional effect is that an organization has to sign an attestation stating they share certain values with the Liberal Party of Canada in order to be eligible to receive funding. This is a slippery slope that I cannot and will not condone with my signature.

Indeed, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms permits the right to freedom of belief and opinion, even those that are contrary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada.

Upon surveying successful applicants from the 2017 cycle of the Canada Summer Jobs Grant application, I have discovered that many of my constituent groups could not sign the attestation as presented in the 2018 Canada Summer Jobs cycle. They have been effectively denied the right to access the Canada Summer Jobs program this year due to having a different opinion than the Liberals. This is unacceptable.

Once again, I would like to emphasize this is not the fault of you or the front-line staff of Service Canada, who are tasked with faithfully executing the directives of the government. My concern is with the political interference over the administration of what was otherwise a well-designed program.

Sincerely,

Hon. Alice Wong, P.C.
M.P. for Richmond Centre

On February 14, 2018, Alice Wong made a statement in the House of Commons on the topic of the Canada Summer Jobs Program.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, here in Ottawa we are in the deep throes of winter, but in my beautiful riding of Richmond Centre spring is just around the corner. Soon the blooming crocuses of spring in Richmond will give way to the sunshine of summer, but not all is “sunny ways”.

The Canada summer jobs program plays a crucial role in handing valuable workplace experience to the youth of Canada and has been used by some agencies combatting social isolation among seniors. However, many agencies involved in this important work cannot and will not sign on to the Liberals’ values test.

I, as well as the numerous constituents of Richmond Centre who have petitioned me, urge the government to remove its shameful attestation and return some of the brightness into the lives of our most valuable resources, the elderly and the young.

On February 13, 2018, Alice Wong made a statement in the House of Commons on the topic of Lunar New Year.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure and honour that I extend greetings to my House colleagues and Canadians from coast to coast to coast on the occasion of the lunar new year at the end of this week. It is the tradition of Canadians with Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese heritage to celebrate this wondrous occasion, and I invite all Canadians to celebrate together.

This lunar new year is the year of the dog, an animal that is renowned for its loyalty, honesty, and justness, qualities that I strive to achieve every day in representing the people of Richmond Centre. I encourage all members of the House to reflect upon those very important traits of the dog in the service of their communities and their constituents in the year ahead.

On behalf of my beautiful riding of Richmond Centre, I wish each and every Canadian a happy lunar new year.

Gong Hey Fat Choy.

The following is a video of MP Alice Wong’s remarks after the Conservative caucus meeting held in Victoria, BC on January 24, 2018:

The following is a transcript:

Hello, this is your Member of Parliament, Hon. Alice Wong, speaking to you from the National Caucus of the Conservative Party of Canada, in beautiful Victoria, BC under the leadership of the Hon. Andrew Scheer.

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year!

At national caucus I raise the many issues facing the people of Richmond to my colleagues from across Canada; issues such as the increased tax burden on families and small businesses. We will continue to fight for low taxes so that more people can spend their own hard earned dollars on their families and on their businesses.

Justin Trudeau has failed to even begin to address the Fentanyl crisis that is sweeping across the nation. Instead of stopping the spread of deadly drugs, he is choosing to spend his time rushing through the legalization of marijuana. The Canadian Medical Association has great concerns about the legislation, but Justin Trudeau has decided to ignore their advice and put his poorly written and foolish bill through to the Senate. So much for evidence-based policy when he won’t even listen to the expert advice of medical professionals.

And recently, we have fought against the Trudeau Liberals’ attempt to introduce a values test to qualify for Summer jobs funding.

As the Shadow Minister of Seniors, I am very excited to be going back to Ottawa this upcoming week where I, along with my committee colleagues, will ensure the Liberal National Seniors Strategy reflects the needs of an increasingly aging population. The Justin Trudeau government cannot continue to ignore the changing demographics of this country, and I will do everything I can to hold this government to account.

On November 7, 2017, Alice Wong asked a question during Question Period. The topic was on Health.

The following is a transcript:

Hon. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, during the first quarter of this year, opioids killed over 900 Canadians. The government needs to help. The Liberals gave only $10 million to fight the opioid crisis but has no problem giving $500 million to the Asian infrastructure bank.

Why is the government sending $500 million to foreign billionaires, when we have Canadians dying in our streets by the hundreds? Canada is our home.

Mr. Bill Blair (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Health, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the member opposite has given us an opportunity to talk about some of the things our government is doing to address the opioid crisis. For example, our government has provided $10 million in urgent support to our provincial partners in British Columbia and $6 million to the Province of Alberta to assist with its response. That is in addition to $22.7 million ongoing of the $100-million commitment in budget 2017 to support national measures associated with the Canadian drugs and substances strategy to respond to this terrible health crisis.