The entire construct of IRPA is to set out a framework that allows the government of the day to deal with the ebb and flow of demand for immigration. The fact that the government of the day has to table in the House every year the projected numbers that are going to be admitted is a good example. If every year the government had to go through a full legislative process of three hearings in each House, with everything that entails, to determine these kinds of detailed decisions, I think it would have the practical effect of significantly slowing down the process. The idea of allowing for instructions is simply to be able to say to the department on something like a yearly basis that we have to move from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock and we have to do it fairly quickly.
As some of the members have suggested, one of the characteristics of the legislative system is that it is deliberative, it allows for time, and it allows for discussion. But there are some aspects--I would argue public administration and management--that require faster movement. That's why a large number of acts of Parliament provide either for regulations or for ministerial instructions.