Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this situation in Syria, we from this side, the community and NGOs, are asking the government to match dollar-for-dollar what they raise. This has been done for many occasions. It was done for the earthquake in Gujarat. It was done for the tsunami. It was done for the earthquake in 2005 in Pakistan, and it continues. The government even reluctantly a couple of times went ahead and did that. I remember the time that we had the earthquake in China, and we had to push the minister at that time. Of course, we forgot the $16 orange juice. We had to push her and push the government in order to do this. When Haiti happened, this House was locked down and the Prime Minister walked right across and said “Here is my donation”.
In that spirit that the community has been asking, that the NGOs have been asking, that we in the opposition have been asking, will my hon. colleague agree that the government has failed completely to match dollar-for-dollar the request from the community? The government is ignoring the Syrian community in Canada, in not only not matching dollar-for-dollar, but also the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism not meeting with them following request after request, in writing to the Prime Minister, who is not ordering his ministers to meet with them.