QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Visitor Visas
May 5, 2026
Government leader, for many years, experts in the official opposition in Parliament have been warning the government that hundreds of thousands of temporary resident visas have expired. The government has acknowledged and admitted that hundreds of thousands of these temporary resident visas have expired, and very few, if any, of these temporary residents in this country have been investigated or shown the door.
Government leader, how in the world is it possible that local libraries in this country do a better job of tracking their books than your government does in terms of border security in this country? What are you going to do to clean up this collapsed mess of an immigration system your government has created?
I’m not sure that the libraries are all acting as you described in your question.
However, as of February 5, 2026, the Canada Border Services Agency has reviewed 17,800 applications for potential inadmissibility, opened over 170 investigations and cancelled over 235 visas related, notably, to the Iranian regime.
The government has been consistent. Security at the border is very important to the government and for Canadian security, and we are acting accordingly.
Let me understand correctly. Your own government has acknowledged hundreds of thousands of temporary resident visas have expired and that these people are living illegally in Canada. Then you rise in the Senate of Canada and tell me that 17,000 have been investigated and 235 have been deported — and that’s a success story? That underlines the problem that we face in terms of border security.
Can you be more committal and clear about what the government intends to do with these hundreds of thousands of illegal visas in this country?
I’m not talking about a success story; I’m talking about an ongoing story. That is why we have the Canada Border Services Agency.
We are monitoring what is happening in Canada. Whenever an illegal incident occurs, we bring forward an investigation, and, at the end of the story, if needed, we remove the people involved from Canada.
