Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, what we can acknowledge is that the previous government cut $400 million from the Canada Border Services Agency budget. In our last budget, we reinvested $173 million to deal with the issue of irregular border crossers. Let me be clear on one thing: our government is doing everything necessary to deal with this situation.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Winnipeg North. As part of the review of the votes under Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in the 2018-19 main estimates, I want to talk about the government's priority to improve client services. High quality, effective, and timely client-service delivery is a priority for the government and for IRCC.

Acadie-Bathurst Titan  Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour for me to announce that the Acadie-Bathurst Titan have won the 2018 Memorial Cup. Last night, Titan defeated the Regina Pats 3-0 to bring the cup home to northeastern New Brunswick for the first time since their move to Bathurst in 1998. This championship victory comes on the heels of their QMJHL President's Cup win on May 13 against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, we understand very well the frustration of the affected individuals. We engaged with the community to better understand their concerns. Our absolute priority is to protect the health and safety of Canadians. For that reason, all immigration candidates are subject to a thorough background check by national security agencies.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, we know that people who come to Canada as tourists or to be with family are very important. As I said, we want those people to come to Canada. We also want people coming to Canada to be screened so they can come here safely. Our priority is to make sure tourists and people with family members in Canada can be with their families here.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, what I can say is that, under our government, wait times have decreased considerably. For example, for spouses and live-in caregivers, processing times have dropped from 26 months under the Conservatives to 12 months under our government. We want to reunite families as quickly as possible.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, on the issue of making the 9,000-kilometre-long border almost impenetrable, I would remind members that the previous government slashed more than $400 million from border resources. The Conservatives are now asking us to put resources along the entire border which spans 9,000 kilometres.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague from Surrey Centre for his speech and for the excellent work that he does on the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. It is unacceptable for spouses to be separated for a long period of time. That is why we promised Canadians that we would reunite these families as quickly as possible.

Business of Supply  Mr. Chair, we made it possible for caregivers, who are a tremendous help to Canadian families, to be reunited as quickly as possible. We are committed to guaranteeing that these caregivers will become permanent residents as quickly as possible. We are also proud to have processed the backlog of caregiver cases.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, once again, we are very proud of this new director's appointment. We want to reduce wait times and expedite the process, which can sometimes be burdensome for applicants. That will help us to greatly reduce wait times and simplify our forms. Client service is one of our priorities, and we are determined to ensure that clients receive the best and quickest service possible from the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I want to thank my colleague from Davenport for her speech. I know she is passionate about the issue of immigration. I also want to thank her for the good advice she has given me. We have made significant progress in reducing wait times and inventories across permanent resident categories.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, again, it is important to understand the distinction between these two very different systems, namely the asylum system and our regular immigration system. These two systems are totally different. The multi-year immigration levels plan will help us clear our backlogs and improve processing times for permanent residents.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we have several programs to welcome the most talented people to Canada so they can contribute to our society and our businesses. We make these programs accessible for newcomers and we want to identify these immigrants so they can contribute to our economy as quickly as possible.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I thank my colleague and good friend from Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia for his speech and his question. Again, asylum seekers are not taking the place of other immigrants who come here or refugees that we have identified abroad. We have unveiled an historic multi-year immigration levels plan, which will help us achieve our immigration objectives, whether with regard to families, the economy, or refugees.

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his question. We have a broad range of programs and we are working with more than 500 settlement service providers. I have had the opportunity to meet with many of their representatives across Canada since being appointed parliamentary secretary.