Give Canadian Kids Their Jobs
Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, released the following statement following the Auditor General’s latest findings and the Minister of Immigration’s appearance at committee:
“Today, there was a flurry of bad news for Canadian youth who are struggling to find jobs and decent wages. A week after horrendous job numbers were reported, the Auditor General found fraud and other serious problems plaguing the government’s foreign student work permit programs.
“There are millions of persons in Canada with expired or expiring visas, and the Liberals are still issuing hundreds of thousands of new work permits to low-skilled workers who are neither citizens nor permanent residents.
“Worse, the Minister testified that her department only has funding to investigate 2,000 cases of foreign student permit fraud per year, while the Auditor General found over 150,000 suspected cases in 2023-2024. That number could be even bigger, as some educational institutions failed to provide information.
“Despite this, the Liberals are pushing ahead with issuing hundreds of thousands of new permits with no plan to remove the millions of existing expired or expiring visa holders.
“The Minister’s testimony comes on the same day that new reports show the government knew that high foreign student permit levels were preventing Canadian youth from gaining experience in entry-level jobs. This morning, Diab tried to downplay this grim reality in committee, saying that students ‘are allowed to work 24 hours a week, so that is sorta whatever.’
“This approach has to stop. Conservatives reiterate calls to restore accountability to our immigration system, abolish the Temporary Foreign Worker program and develop better labour mobility and skills training to ensure Canadian businesses hire Canadian workers, particularly Canadian youth who, more than ever, are struggling to find jobs after a decade of Liberal failures.”