Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 13th, 2008

[Richard Fadden]

Last year we admitted to Canada 429,649 permanent residents, temporary foreign workers, and foreign students. That number is about 60,000 higher than it was four years ago.

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

In fact, it's probably at an historic high. I think, if you go back, if my memory serves me right, it is the highest we've had in the last 90 or 100 years.

[Richard Fadden]

I believe it is the most we've ever admitted in one year.

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

Obviously, when you're looking at arrivals and permanent landings, you have to look at the big picture to see what the department actually processes, and it was a significant number. You would agree with me there.

[Richard Fadden]

I would, Mr. Chairman.

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

On the family reunification class, the minister has indicated and you've indicated that this portion of IRPA will be respected, along with the other two categories. The minister has just indicated that the intention for next year is 70,000. I think that is the number she used. Given those numbers, will the legislation we have here and the kinds of things you've talked about doing under Bill C-50 have the effect of processing family reunification more quickly than in the past?

[Richard Fadden]

I'm not sure it will be quicker, but it certainly will not be less fast. The intention would be to take the numbers that are tabled in Parliament in the three categories—federal skilled workers, the family class, and the humanitarian class—and process the last two on a priority basis. When I was talking earlier, I mentioned that the minister's instructions can deal with two broad categories of priorities. One is occupational categories; the other is program categories. One of those categories, I suspect, will be the family class.

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

In terms of the family class itself, so far has there been improvement in the processing time in that area? Maybe you can comment on that.

[Richard Fadden]

Yes, Mr. Chairman. In particular, with respect to spouses, partners, and children, I think there has been an improvement of 40% over the course of the last couple of years.

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

So the primary selection process, if you want to call it that, for dealing with categories and the criteria behind them will mostly occur in the third leg or in the skilled economic class.

[Richard Fadden]

That's correct, Mr. Chairman.

I think the minister has mentioned on a couple of occasions that absent any particular problems that we can't foresee, her intention would be to focus on the federal economic class.

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

Again, in terms of having that class proceed more quickly and more directly to the requirements of the economy of the country, what in the legislation provides for flexibility? And where in the legislation would it allow you to realign those who apply with what's needed in the economy?

[Richard Fadden]

Fundamentally, this is what the legislation will do, assuming that Parliament accepts it. For applications received after February 27, the minister will be able to tell the department which particular applications or category of applications we have to process first. That's a capacity we do not have now. She would be able to tell us, for example, that the country needs more sheet workers or more doctors, and they would be pulled out of the system and dealt with first.

The other major change being proposed in the legislation is that we would no longer be required to deal with all the applications. So something of the order of a yearly processing period would be set up, and we would make sure that as people came through the year, we would capture out of this one-year period those who reflect the priorities the minister sets. If by the end of the year or near the end of the year they haven't done that, their applications would be returned.

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

Did you time my time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Yes, I did. Your five minutes have expired.

I'd like to go to Mr. Wilson, and after Mr. Wilson, Madame Beaumier.

I will give Mr. Wilson a chance to ask a few questions here.

[Blair Wilson, Independent, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Fadden.

I'd like to preface by saying I've gone through the details of this bill. I'm not a lawyer; I'm just a hard-working kid from North Vancouver. But I was very disappointed with the manner in which the minister and the government back-doored these radical changes into the budget and never allowed the democratic Canadian process, the committee process, to review and debate and ascertain what exactly is going through. I'm just not happy with the way this process is working.

Having said that, the minister did appear, as you are doing here, and we heard her words. I just want to see whether you can help clarify an issue for me. The minister said:

Our proposed legislation will allow the minister to identify categories of occupations—not individuals—that will be processed on a priority basis....

However, earlier in your testimony, Mr. Fadden, you stated that the aim of the bill is to allow the minister to select people. And if we go to the actual words in the bill, proposed subsection 87.3(3) states:

The Minister may give instructions with respect to the processing of applications and requests, including instructions

(a) establishing categories

(b) establishing an order

(c) setting the number of applications; and

(d) providing for the disposition of applications

So my question to you is—and you said earlier that this minister is allowed to pick and choose who she wants to allow into Canada—is she allowed, under this legislation, to pick and choose, as you said, who gets into Canada?

[Richard Fadden]

No, Mr. Chairman, she is not. Under the general construction of IRPA there are three categories of decision-makers. There are a couple of very restricted areas where the minister must decide personally; there are a number of areas where officials make decisions on behalf of the minister, as her delegate; and there is a variety of other categories where the law gives to individual officers the right to decide on their own.

The categories of admissions we're talking about here are given to individual officers. That's in the law now, and this bill does not change that, in the view of the Department of Justice.

[Blair Wilson, Independent, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Well, then, what's the purpose of this bill, if it doesn't change any powers the minister already has?

[Richard Fadden]

It changes a number of things, but it gives her the power to tell the department which categories to give precedence to.

[Blair Wilson, Independent, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

And that's the question most witnesses are concerned about. It gives the minister the power to say, “This is a category and these are the people we're going to allow into Canada, and this is a category in which we're not going to allow people to get into Canada.” That type of totalitarian power is what puts a chill into most Canadians, and new Canadians as well.

[An hon. member]

That's why you're advertising heavily.

[Richard Fadden]

Well, Mr. Chairman, there are two things. One is, every other immigrant-receiving country has given its government this or a similar kind of power; that is to say, some capacity to select the kinds of categories of people they want to admit into the country. That's what this bill is doing. It is not giving to the minister the authority to decide individual cases.

[Blair Wilson, Independent, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

How is this bill going to deal with the backlog? You're saying the purpose of this bill is to deal with the backlog. We have a million people in the backlog right now. Wouldn't you agree that the easiest way to deal with the backlog is to let more people into Canada today, and faster? Instead of letting in 262,000, let in 350,000; let in 400,000. We'll deal with the backlog very effectively that way.

I don't know whether you've been to western Canada, but in western Canada we have a skilled worker shortage. We drastically need skilled workers in western Canada.

[Richard Fadden]

I think the minister, Mr. Chairman, partially answered the question when she said it wasn't quite as simple as merely increasing the numbers. All of the provinces and two of the territories have indicated to us that they need more people. A lot of these people are required on the temporary side, and we're trying to increase the numbers on that front.

But they also require schools and they require places to live, and it is the view of the government that we could not simply increase by, say, 100,000, from one year to the next, the number of people admitted into the country. The government is of the view—

[Blair Wilson, Independent, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Sir, I would disagree with you on that fact. I have communities, such as Squamish, such as Whistler, that are hosting the 2010 Olympics. I have businesses that can't open for lunch and can't open for breakfast because they don't have enough workers to man their restaurants or to keep their hotels and beds open. So the number of workers would be easily absorbed, I believe, in western Canada. I know they would be easily absorbed in my riding.