The sitting was dominated by a Conservative opposition motion on the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), which sparked a heated debate over immigration, health care fairness, and the treatment of asylum claimants. The central political argument pitted Conservative claims of a two-tiered system favouring rejected claimants against Liberal and NDP accusations of scapegoating vulnerable people.
The main item of Government Orders business was the Conservative opposition motion on the IFHP. The motion called on the government to review federal benefits for asylum claimants to find savings, restrict rejected claimants to emergency life-saving care only, provide annual transparency reports on IFHP spending, and pass policies to immediately expel foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes in Canada. Conservatives argued the IFHP’s cost had quadrupled to $896 million, projected to reach $1.5 billion by 2030, and that rejected claimants received supplementary benefits like vision care and physiotherapy that many Canadians lack. They framed this as unfair to taxpayers and a strain on a health system where six million Canadians lack a family doctor. The Liberals countered that the cost increase was due to higher claim volumes and processing delays, not expanded benefits, and that the government had already acted through Bill C-12 and a copayment model in budget 2025 to control costs and reduce abuse. They accused the Conservatives of using divisive, Trumpian language to scapegoat refugees. The Bloc Québécois opposed the motion, arguing it omitted the role of slow processing times and risky links between IFHP costs and provincial health funding, though they agreed on the inequity of certain benefits. The NDP strongly opposed the motion, arguing that restricting care would shift costs to emergency rooms and violate international obligations, and that the real solution was faster claim processing. The Green Party also opposed the motion, calling it scapegoating. The motion was not voted on during the sitting.
Oral Questions focused heavily on three recurring themes: the Cúram software system, the IFHP, and immigration system integrity. On Cúram, the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois pressed the government on a $5-billion cost overrun and 85,000 seniors not receiving pension cheques, calling it a scandal and demanding an independent public inquiry. The government replied that the project was on budget, had been reviewed by the Auditor General, and that the $6.6-billion figure was an upper ceiling that might not be spent. On the IFHP and immigration, the Conservatives repeatedly argued that rejected asylum claimants received better health benefits than Canadians, that the system was overwhelmed by a 3,000% increase in asylum claims, and that the government had removed security safeguards. The government answered that asylum claims had dropped by one-third, that Bill C-12 would address abuse, and that it was strengthening the system while honouring international obligations. The Prime Minister stated that Canada provides essential health care to everyone and that the government had reduced temporary foreign workers by 50% and new students by 60%.