Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You know, Mr. Chairman, I find the approach of the opposition on this very disconcerting. This is an extremely serious issue. No one should attempt to mislead Canadians that somehow refugees, asylum claimants, and their children are not getting health care. That is absolutely false. They are getting health care. What we are talking about here is failed refugee claimants and bogus claimants; those individuals don't get health care. It's the same as Canadians. Everything that's available to a Canadian citizen is available to a refugee claimant. When that refugee claimant is proven to be a bogus claimant and is leaving the country, that is a different situation.
What we're talking about here is not that we are removing the option of social assistance. That is absolutely not what this does. What this does is introduce a minimum period of residence before foreign nationals can access social assistance. That's with the provinces and territories, because currently the provinces and territories that are responsible for social assistance cannot impose a minimum period of residence on receipt of social assistance without the risk of incurring a penalty in the form of reduced Canada social transfer payments from the federal government.
If a province or territory decides.... If Ontario decides it wants social assistance on day one, that's up to Ontario. If Quebec decides that, it's up to Quebec. The provinces and territories make this decision without threat of penalty. What this does is amend the federal transfer payments to allow for the provinces and territories to introduce the type of condition that would enable them to complement federal efforts to minimize possible incentives for an unfounded asylum claim.
Here is the reality. We've had 10,000 and 15,000 asylum claimants per month from some countries, and 99.9% of them are never filled out. They never come to fruition. However, if we make the system wide open, then we are responsible for every one of those individuals, whether they are legitimate refugees and asylum claimants or not.
All we are doing is putting the power in the hands of the provinces—where it belongs—without threat of penalty. They make the decision, and I suspect they'll leave it as it is, or they may not, but it's up to them. Let's not call this something it isn't.