Island Social Trend: NDP MPs visit Nunavut ahead of 2026 House of Commons session

Before heading back to Ottawa for the upcoming session of the House of Commons, several New Democrat MPs spent a few days in Rankin Inlet to meet with Nunavummiut and hear directly from them about their priorities.

“I am proud to welcome my NDP colleagues to Nunavut, and for them to see firsthand the issues northerners are facing,” said NDP MP for Nunavut, Lori Idlout.

She hosted three MPs whose ridings are in BC: NDP Leader Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway), Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni).

“New Democrats are committed to hearing from community members and working with them to bring solutions to Ottawa,” said Idlout in an NDP news release on January 19.

“Throughout the country, families are facing a lack of affordable homes, high cost of food, and a need for more family- and community-sustaining jobs,” said Davies.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://islandsocialtrends.ca/ndp-mps-visit-nunavut-ahead-of-2026-house-of-commons-session/

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News Release: MP Kwan Releases Video Calling for Support on Bill C-233 Before Upcoming Vote at Second Reading

Click image or link to watch the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTSCJ4U1Hfs

Radio-Canada: Where is Canada's immigration minister? Community groups are asking

MPs question Lena Diab's performance at question period and in committee

Criticism is coming not only from opposition parties, but also from Diab's own Liberal colleagues.

Away from the cameras, 10 Liberal MPs spoke to Radio-Canada about her performance. They were granted confidentiality in order to express themselves freely.

Of those, only one defended Diab's job performance. Although several of them emphasized that she is a "good person" in charge of a "difficult" portfolio, nine MPs said they believe that the minister is overwhelmed and are openly questioning her place at the cabinet table.

"It doesn't make sense. In the House of Commons, many MPs hold their breath when she answers questions from the opposition," said one Liberal elected official.

"We're afraid she'll put her foot in her mouth."

New Democrat Jenny Kwan, her party's immigration critic, said that both Carney and Diab are responsible for how the immigration file is handled.

"That responsibility is to be responsive to stakeholders, to take these issues seriously, to examine the policies, to evaluate them, to hear from opposition and the public and look for ways to improve them," she said.

"That is their job."

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lena-diab-immigration-minister-criticism-9.7103914

Hill Times: Failed asylum-seeker motion shows Conservatives ‘smelled blood in the water’ with minister, immigration as wedge issue, say politicos

Conservatives are capitalizing on the recent drop in public support for immigration, but risk being seen as too MAGA adjacent, say observers. Meanwhile, the immigration minister's own colleagues question her handling of the file.

The Conservatives’ defeated motion targeting health-care coverage for asylum claimants shows weaknesses on both the part of the Liberal immigration minister and the official opposition leader, with MAGA-like rhetoric posing political risk for the latter, observers say.

Jordan Leichnitz, a former NDP strategist who now works for the German non-profit Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, told The Hill Times in a Feb. 26 interview that the Conservatives’ pressure on the immigration file is a reflection of their own political fragility.

“To me, it’s a manifestation of their political weakness right now. They turn to these arguments because they’re very mobilizing for segments of their base at moments where they feel politically more vulnerable,” she said.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/02/28/failed-asylum-seeker-motion-shows-conservatives-smelled-blood-in-the-water-with-minister-immigration-as-wedge-issue-say-politicos/493465/