Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 19th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you.

We'll go to Bill.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think the parliamentary secretary dislikes Mr. Telegdi more than he likes me, unfortunately.

I just want to say, in support of the motion, because I think it's a really important one, that the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution is a very important moment in European history, and indeed in world history and in Canadian history. The challenge to Soviet authority there was a very significant moment, and one that many of my relatives were involved in, because it directly affected their lives as Hungarians.

And as Andrew points out, the refugee movement that happened, and Canada's particular response to that refugee movement, really did pave the way for our present refugee policies. In that sense, it was sort of our first great stab at a major refugee resettlement, a modern one in any case.

So I think this is an appropriate motion to discuss at this committee because of those connections, and I just wanted to indicate that I would be supporting it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Alan, you have the floor.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Chairman, I find this resolution--regardless of the tie-in with respect to the committee, and there are others who can argue that better--a very inspiring one, and I congratulate Mr. Telegdi on this motion. I remember at school, during the events in Poland--and they were dramatic and traumatic in many ways--meeting Mr. Lech Walesa, and I asked him what the greatest inspiration was with respect to Solidarity and what happened in Poland. He said that his hero was Nagy, and that the inspiration for what occurred came from Hungary in 1956, and that he was a great scholar of the events of those times.

I think that if you thread the chain that resulted in détente, you probably will find that the chain began with the dramatic Hungarian Revolution and the fight for freedom. And I congratulate Mr. Telegdi on this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Thank you.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Congratulations, sir. It is unanimously carried.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Now, Madame Folco is not here today, so we'll just wait on her motion. She gave a notice of motion.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

What was hers?

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Her motion had to do with directing the Auditor General to do an audit of CSIS.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

She could table that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

We'll just wait for her to come back.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday. Is our next meeting tomorrow? I'm not aware of it.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

It's on Wednesday.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Normally it's on Wednesday. So at our next meeting, we'll do the clause-by-clause of Bill C-14.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Chair, I'm not sure what the will of this committee will be, given the proposed amendments. I think we have to consider that. But I would like to raise this for the committee's consideration.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Before you do that, we didn't get around to the third item on the agenda in the first report, I'm told, which was that it was agreed that the committee undertake the following prioritized work plan: refugee issues, undocumented workers, temporary foreign workers, application backlog.

Everyone is aware of that. That's agreed as well.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

You might want to come back to that.

But to deal with the meeting date, I'm wondering if there wouldn't be some merit in bringing forward our meeting to Tuesday, rather than having it on Wednesday, with the idea of seeing if there is a will to actually see this adoption act go through before the House adjourns, with or without amendment. There may need to be some close consideration....

If there's any consensus, we might be wise to do it perhaps later on Tuesday. If we do it on Wednesday, I'm afraid we're probably looking at the next session. I'm not saying that's not good; it's just that if there are some significant concerns, and we want to delay it to hear more on some of the issues raised, we could do that. But if the idea was to deal with those concerns and actually have a chance to bring it through the House, we might want to bring it forward sooner than Wednesday.

I leave that with the committee, because that may be determinative of what happens. It's something to think about.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay.

We'll hear from Madam Faille on that.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I don't think that will be possible, unless you want to sit at midnight. I have a meeting tomorrow with the law clerk with respect to drafting amendments. I don't see how that could be done before tomorrow evening, unless you want to sit at 8 or 9 o'clock tomorrow.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay. The meeting for your amendments is tomorrow. Could we not deal with the amendments on Wednesday? I know it might be tight, but if we can't have the meeting—

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We could. I'm just suggesting that—

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

We can't have our meeting on Tuesday.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We can't have it Tuesday? That's fine. There may be the will to deal with it on Wednesday.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Unless we had our meeting very late on Tuesday, and I don't particularly—

[An hon. member]

It would have to be very late.