Thank you very much.
The issue of undocumented workers was on the verge of being solved before the last election was called. A lot of the growth in the undocumented workers class was driven by the 2002 changes to the act and the point system. It really denied entry to people the economy needed. One of the reasons we're going through with Bill C-50 is that the people the economy actually needed were not able to access Canada under the old point system.
There's a vote on Bill C-50 tonight in the House. I want to make it clear that having examined Bill C-50 in the context it's being voted on, if it doesn't go on to committee we won't be studying Bill C-50; we'll be going into an election without the problem being solved. I think we need to very rigorously debate Bill C-50 and make the country aware of its implications.
Mr. Mannella, you mentioned you had a talk with the minister and she seemed sympathetic. I hate to disabuse you, but she parrots what the bureaucrats say. I'll tell you exactly what the bureaucrats want to do with undocumented workers: they want to get them all out of the country because they represent the mistake of their previous decision. Make no mistake, they're the ones who drove the changing of the point system. You're going to get precious little relief from that area.
If the minister or the Conservatives wanted to do it, the regularization was in place, but it came to a quick, screeching halt when this government took over. It's important that you as a community, particularly in Toronto, are very aware of what Bill C-50 is about, because it would remove the objective nature. The parliamentary secretary will say something else, but it will remove the guarantees for qualified people to get into the country--that's one problem.
We also need to make sure the point system gets fixed so the people the economy needs can get in here. The other problem is to make sure undocumented people are dealt with.