Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs appropriately acknowledges the role of our embassies in foreign lands in doing all they can to limit the possibilities of terrorists getting into Canada. It is therefore completely unacceptable that the Canadian government is giving ultimate decision making authority to local employees of our immigration offices overseas to select who gets into the country and who gets visas.
Canadians should be concerned when we hear reports of alarming rates of bribery and smuggling involving some of our embassy employees overseas. It damages our reputation as a country and the reputation of the many excellent embassy employees at home and abroad. Four out of every five employees at our embassy immigration offices overseas are local hires. While hiring locally is appropriate, the ultimate decision as to who is eligible to enter Canada must be left in the hands of Canadians citizens.