Finance Committee on May 28th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay. That was a roundabout way of answering my question.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

But the—

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Brison, do you want to continue on this?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Very roundabout.

To Ms. Nash's point, this is simply a fee or a tax on the applicants that increases the burden on the applicants. At a time when we need more new Canadians, I fail to see why we would be increasing fees. Again, I actually agree with Ms. Nash on this.

To your earlier point, I think you were seeing some relationship between the increase in fee and increased efficacy of the process, and there is no linkage.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

We'll have to agree to disagree on that, Mr. Brison, as we do on a few issues.

I have Mr. Jean, and then Mr. Rankin.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

If I understand it correctly, what this amendment is doing is shifting the cost from taxpayers to the people actually using the services.

[Karine Paré]

The actual amendment is an exemption to the User Fees Act, so it's not about the fee increase, necessarily. It's about getting an exemption to the User Fees Act so that we can go through the regulatory process to change the fees.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Okay, and it's the intention to double the fee from $200 to $400. Is that correct?

[Karine Paré]

The fee level has not been determined yet. It's going to be determined through the regulatory process.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

What is the cost right now to process one of these applications? Isn't it about a thousand dollars?

[Karine Paré]

To process the actual application for citizenship?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Yes.

[Karine Paré]

It's around $550.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Oh, okay, and right now the fee is...?

[Karine Paré]

The fee is $200.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Okay. So it doesn't cover the actual cost.

[Karine Paré]

Exactly.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Jean.

Mr. Rankin, please.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I have a question for the officials. When you say that this fee goes into the consolidated revenue fund, it's not earmarked for this program, necessarily. It can be used for whatever purpose if it's in the CRF. Is that correct?

[Karine Paré]

You are correct.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

(Clauses 170 to 172 inclusive agreed to)

(Clause 173 agreed to)

Colleagues, I'm going to ask for a break.

We have a lot of amendments for clause 174, so I'll suggest another five-minute break at this point. I'll just remind colleagues that if we go into question period, we will obviously be breaking for question period. We'll suspend for five minutes or so.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I call this meeting back to order.

Again, colleagues, we are on meeting number 125 of the Standing Committee on Finance, continuing our clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-60, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013, and other measures.

(On clause 174—Enactment)

Clauses 174 to 199 deal with division 12, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act.

We have eight amendments dealing with clause 174. We will deal with them in the order they're on your agenda. Therefore, we will go to Ms. May for her eighth amendment, please.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll briefly repeat that my participation in these hearings is without prejudice to my rights as a member of Parliament when we get to report stage.

My amendment here, Green Party amendment 8, deals with the mandates, powers, duties, and functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The amendment in question here attempts to underscore core Canadian values.

For instance, at paragraph (a) of my amendment, where the current draft ends with the words “economic relations”, I propose that the act should go on to say:

ensuring that all economic relationships are founded on the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law;

Subsequent parts of the amendment are similar in strengthening language that's already there, in terms of what are core Canadian values, such as promoting development that is socially and ecologically responsible and ensuring that development assistance also extends to mitigation of climate change and disasters caused by the climate crisis.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much, Ms. May.

Would you like to speak to it, Mr. Brison?