Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I don't support the attempt to amend the guts out of this motion, Mr. Chair.
With respect to the parliamentary secretary, I don't for a second believe that I'm shirking my responsibilities, that I don't take the role of the committee and my responsibilities here seriously, that I'm trying to railroad anybody, or that I'm doing a knee-jerk reaction. I really must take exception to some of the expressions the parliamentary secretary has used.
This is a very important issue that's affecting many Canadian families, many workers in Canada, and many of our communities. All this motion is doing is asking the government to put a moratorium on deporting people who have been making a contribution to our communities and to our economy and whose families are settled here in Canada until there's a review and a policy in place that deals with their circumstances. I think that's entirely a reasonable thing for this committee to suggest to the government. It's a recommendation to government. It's not a full study. We have, in fact, committed to doing that full study later on, but in the meantime, I think this is an entirely appropriate action to take.
Especially in Toronto but also in other communities, we've seen families being uprooted and workers in very key sectors of the economy--workers needed by companies on building projects, among other places--being deported. They're being uprooted and sent away, and this is an unacceptable situation.
I don't for a moment accept that this is somehow shirking our responsibilities; I think this is owning up to our responsibilities and suggesting to the government a reasonable course of action, given the seriousness of the situation. Yes, we'll do that study, and we'll perhaps come up with more extensive recommendations. We certainly hope we will do that when we return in the fall, but in the meantime, this is a very necessary course of action. I'd urge other members of the committee to defeat the amendment and support the original motion.
Thank you.