'You are a very bad minister,' Conservative immigration critic says at tense committee meeting
CBC
Immigration Minister Lena Diab sparred with her Conservative critic at a tense House of Commons committee meeting Thursday as the two disagreed on everything from immigration levels and deporting non-citizen criminals to what kind of salad they prefer.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner put Diab in the hot seat throughout her two-hour committee appearance, grilling Diab about her file and accusing her of being "a very bad minister" when she struggled to give a clear answer on whether she will use powers under the government's pending C-12 legislation to mass extend temporary visas.
A section in that bill gives the government the ability to stop accepting applications or cancel, suspend or change documents for an entire immigration class — something critics on both sides of the issue say could be abused either to turbocharge the number of newcomers or cancel visas en masse.
Asked if she plans to use that power to keep more people in Canada rather than expelling them when their visas expire, Diab said "that's not the purpose" of the legislation but wouldn't say how it would be used.
A frustrated Rempel Garner interrupted Diab.
"When you ask a question I think you should be able to have decency to let someone respond," Diab said.
"I don't like your word salad, it's true. You are a very bad minister," Rempel Garner said.
"You know what, I prefer fattoush and tabouleh to your salad, at any time," Diab said.
"That is the oddest thing any immigration has ever said at this committee. It's very weak and it will be added to your performance review," Rempel Garner said.
"It's my culture," said Diab, who is Lebanese Canadian.
At one point, another Liberal MP, Peter Fragiskatos, stepped in as the two exchanged words.
Rempel Garner said she wasn't speaking to him about these issues.
"He's going to have your job," she said to Diab of Fragiskatos, suggesting the minister was about to be shuffled out of cabinet. "I'll likely be having this conversation with him in a couple of months."
Rempel Garner also asked Diab about some recent non-citizen criminals getting more lenient sentences so they can avoid deportation.
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