Evidence of meeting #2 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was immigration.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Mr. Karygiannis, you asked a question. Let the minister finish his answer.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
The minister is saying he cannot accept it at face value.
I'm wondering, has the minister, Mr. Chair--
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Has the minister, Mr. Chair, gone to his website? The website states: Beijing, 68 months. If I am wrong, then your website doesn't lie. If I am wrong, the freedom of information answer I got back in 2007 of 43 months overall doesn't lie.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
I can also assure the member, Mr. Chairman, that in fact the department has increased resources in all three of those source countries--the PRC, the Philippines, and India--and are constantly seeking more efficient ways to process the large inventory of applications.
The principal reason for the large inventories is the very large number of applications from temporary foreign workers, which was in response to labour market needs in Canada--
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Mr. Chair, we're talking here of the skilled worker category--
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Mr. Minister, stay in focus. We are talking about skilled workers.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
Order.
Only one person can speak at a time, Mr. Karygiannis. Minister Kenney was speaking. Please let him finish.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Mr. Chair, my question for the minister was on skilled workers. For the minister to make a slip and say “temporary foreign workers”.... That is not my question. My question was very specific: timelines on skilled workers. That has shot up under your administration, sir, 58%.
If you don't want to take my points on Australia, that's fine. Let me, Minister, change gears and go to Manila. When you took office, sir, in 2005, in Manila we had a total of 6,244 applicants for nannies, care workers, of which 2,094 passed and 1,528 failed.
Sir, under your administration, this year alone we have 5,915 who have applied, with 1,729 passed and 3,403 failed. Twice the amount of people have failed in Manila as have passed. Minister, what has changed over the last three years?
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
In fact, Mr. Chairman, there has been a large increase in demand for the live-in caregiver program. We're processing more applications from around the world for people to come to Canada in the live-in caregiver program. Later this year I'm going to be looking at ways in which we can improve the program. We are concerned about the length of processing times. We also want to ensure that the labour market standards, the protections of the provincial governments, are being properly enforced as they relate to live-in caregivers.
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Jean Dorion Bloc Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC
Thank you for coming to speak to us this morning, Minister. I have a very brief point of information. You mentioned that you had appointed 13 new members to the Immigration and Refugee Board and extended the terms of three more.
How many members are there in all at the board?
9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
I can tell you that there are still 32 vacant positions at the board. We will soon be making more appointments to reduce that number. I believe that the board will very soon be operating at nearly 100% of its capacity.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Jean Dorion Bloc Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC
May we know the total planned number of positions? I'm not just talking about vacant positions, but about all positions. How many are there in total?
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Jean Dorion Bloc Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC
Thank you. I'm going to turn the rest of the time allotted to me over to my colleague.
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Mr. Kenney, you began your remarks by requesting the committee's cooperation. I think that's a good thing and that the vast majority of committee members want to cooperate with you. However, during the study of Bill C-50 in the last Parliament, two things greatly shocked committee members. First, there was the fact that the part of the bill on immigration reform did not constitute a separate bill. It was included in Bill C-50 and thus was not referred to our committee for study. The Finance Committee studied it, whereas it had none of the necessary knowledge to do so. In addition, as we debated the bill, when the House discussed it, the government spent nearly $1 million—Ms. Chow has previously demonstrated that—to advertise a bill that had not yet even been passed.
In the current Parliament, you're seeking our committee's cooperation. Can you make a commitment to us not to repeat that kind of affront by advertising bills that have not even finished being studied or introducing parts of bills on immigration in bills that are not even our committee's responsibility?
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
So you would like to have more information on how that works?
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
No, you're telling us you want to cooperate. Can you in turn make a commitment not to commit affronts like those committed against committee members the last time? The last time, committee members' perception was that, when the government buys media advertising to promote a reform on which Parliament has not yet even decided, that's an insult to parliamentarians. It's also an insult when the government introduces a bill the immigration part of which is studied by a committee other than ours. Could we have some genuine cooperation this time?
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
Mr. St-Cyr, I'm very open to the idea of working with the committee, the members here present, and with other members on all matters related to my department. In the case you refer to, I believe that a question of privilege was raised with the Speaker of the House, who ruled that the advertisements were normal, consistent with the rules and traditions, and that it was not a matter of privilege. Having said that, I am here to answer your questions. If we have advertising plans or bills in future, I will do my utmost to consult this committee.
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
All right. My intention was not to say that what you did was illegal. It was more to emphasize that cooperation is a two-way street.
To go back to Bill C-50 in greater detail and the issue of backlogs, you explain in your introduction that the number of backlogged individuals had fallen. However, you attribute that to the immigration reform provided for in Bill C-50. And yet that's quite strange because what Bill C-50 provided for was the possibility of faster processing of specific files in certain classes determined by the minister. In short, it allowed people who were at the end of the line to move forward and be heard sooner because, for example, they were in fields of employment in demand in Quebec.