Mark Carney Must Make Lena Diab Show Up for Work
Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, issued the following statement regarding federal Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s unwillingness to confirm if she will show up to this week’s critical Committee of the Whole:
“This year, the Official Opposition selected the Minister of Immigration to be held to account as part of Parliament’s scrutiny of the government’s financial plans. This process, colloquially referred to as Committee of the Whole, is scheduled for Thursday night and would see the Minister questioned by MPs.
“The Minister of Finance has committed to showing up for his full session, but to date, Lena Diab has not confirmed she will attend, or attend the full four hours, for hers.
“Everyone knows that Lena Diab will eventually have to be fired because of her incompetence, but if she’s so bad that the Prime Minister’s Office doesn’t think she can be questioned about her department’s work as required by Parliamentary procedure, then Mark Carney needs to immediately fire and replace her with someone who will.
“It’s absolutely mind-boggling that the person in charge of one of the most critical files in the federal government, who gets paid about $300,000 and has a taxpayer-funded driver, can’t be bothered to show up for work. It’s an embarrassing stain on the Prime Minister’s reputation that he’s letting her get away with this.
“I can understand why Lena doesn’t want to come to work, however. In the last two weeks alone, Canadians learned that:
- On May 8, the Toronto Star announced that Americans are flooding the United Church of Canada Archives in Toronto with requests to help locate documents that might aid in being useful for citizenship applications under Bill C-3.
- On May 11, the National Post released an article that announced that a judge gave another lenient sentence to a non-citizen who caused a fatal crash on Ontario’s Highway 102.
- On May 11, a Work Permit holder was given a lenient sentence for assaulting and robbing a woman in order to avoid deportation.
- On May 11, Global News wrote an exposé on how the government gave citizenship to a terrorist, and it has taken them ‘nine immigration ministers’ to revoke his citizenship.
- On May 11, the CBC posted an article regarding a single mom and family who have lived in government-funded hotels for over a year.
- On May 12, the CBSA openly admitted that out of 118 removal orders issued, only 55 individuals were removed, leaving 63 people to remain in Canada.
- On May 13, the CBC reported that VFS Global, an IRCC-contracted company that runs 164 visa application centers at the cost of $725 million, is being flagged for fraud and security risks, despite the Globe and Mail voicing concerns about VFS in 2021.
- On May 16, the Globe and Mail reported that the IRCC is acting slow in removing IRGC officials in Canada.
- On May 17, the Toronto Star reported that IRCC officials have been fired for misconduct. Overall, there were 105 cases revealed for misconduct and wrongdoing at the department in 2024-2025.
- On May 17, it was reported that there is a surge of citizenship applications from the United States, which is being attributed to the new citizenship laws under Liberal Bill C-3.
- On May 19, more US citizens are trying to find proof of ancestors in Canada to aid in their citizenship applications under C-3.
“Instead of responding to the issues facing Canadians, Lena Diab has been in hiding for two weeks and is trying to escape further accountability now. She needs to show up for the entirety of the questioning on Thursday, or she needs to be immediately fired.”