Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Minister.
You began your presentation by stating how proud you were to be the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. To my mind, to have such an important piece of legislation on immigration, a subject of interest to the whole country, consigned to barely two pages of a 130-page bill does not do you justice as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. I think a different approach should have been taken, and a real bill calling for immigration reform tabled.
All of the groups that we have spoken to and that are concerned by the immigration issue have confirmed that they were not consulted on Part 6 of Bill C-50. To put forward this initiative as the solution to the problem is more or less an abuse of authority. As committee members, we are forced to quickly review the portion of the bill concerning immigration. In essence, we are consulting and discussing after the fact a bill that pleases no one.
How can you claim to be proud, given that this bill is subject to a vote of confidence, because it is a budget bill? It's as if you want to tie our hands so that we have to go along with your solution.