Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't think I can comment on the intentions of the minister, but really, the matter is before the Federal Court, and they will decide.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I can't comment. I don't know what's in the mind. I don't know. I'd be guessing.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't know, but it would be interesting also to examine—I know it's not before this committee—the citizenship appointments. It's the same issue. There's a lack of citizenship judges. I don't know the answer.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —as a result of the non-appointment of people at that time.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, as my colleagues have all stated, it's got to be a totally merit-based system. I would even refer to a statement made by the former chair, Mr. Showler, who was dealing with these issues. His prescription for IRB reform, detailed in his new book, argues that cabinet should

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think it would create Canadians' questioning whether these are appropriate decision-makers. We just don't want that. We want a system that's based on merit. Again, I always question if the CBC has it accurately, but at one point, Ms. Diane Ablonczy indicated that she was disa

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I won't comment on that, but I'll just indicate that the lineups have become long for whatever reason, and that is because we do not have enough board members.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, I didn't say that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As my friend indicated, I believe it started to slow down and didn't work too well prior to the present government's coming in. There were lots of vacancies at that time. It certainly has gotten worse. That's my opinion of that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think you have to look at this very carefully with respect to the appeal provisions in judicial systems, the law, and with respect to criminality. There are tremendous more levels of appeal. In the particular system that we're looking at, it's very limited. So we have to look a

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It varies from province to province and city to city. In Toronto it is approximately six months.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The way it works—for people who aren't familiar with it—is that you go to this ADR generally for spousal applications that have been refused. That takes six months. If you lose at that point, then it takes about a year and a half.