Evidence of meeting #36 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:55 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Chair, instead of a question, I'm wondering whether you would entertain a motion that is directly connected...or can I place it, and then we can deal with it later?
You don't want to do that.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
We only have a couple of minutes, and I'd like to leave it for questions.
We'll go to Ms. Wong.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
Alice Wong Conservative Richmond, BC
My question, Mr. Chair, is about the Canadian experience class. We expect that by 2012, the level of the CEC will grow to 26,000, which is a 420% increase in three years. It will then account for 20% of the economic class category. My question to you is whether you think this is a realistic projection. If so, what kind of impact will this kind of growth have on the overall national immigration framework? What other program would be effective for implementation? As you already have assessed, this is a good program, it has a lot of merit, and we intend to do more. Following that, what kind of impact do you think it will have on our system?
10:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Chair, we don't have any particular concerns about the projections. These are the department's numbers, but they appear to us to be reasonable. As for the impacts, I think that's really a question that should go to the department.
I don't know that we have actually looked at the potential impacts. Clearly, I think that based on the analysis that was done when this program was set up it was felt that it would be beneficial. The examples were university students who would continue to stay in Canada instead of being lost to other countries and people who have worked here for two or three years. They would have a process by which they could stay in the country and continue to work rather than having to leave. It was felt that it would be beneficial for the labour market.
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Conservative
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Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Madam Fraser, I want to follow up on where I left off on the African-source countries and the length of time it's taking to reach targets. The processing times for spousal applications in those countries—and I know you probably didn't cover it—have gone through the roof. There has been an increase of about 75% to 90%. I would conclude from your remarks that to process family class spouses, especially, the minister needs to allocate and assign more staff to it, and if he hasn't done so, he's failed those particular individuals.
10:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Mr. Chair, I would suspect it goes back to the targets that are being set for the various missions, and the resources are set as a function of that.
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Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
That's not the case for spouses. These are family class. These are wives and husbands.
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Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Then it would be the question of resources that have been put to--
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Tilson
We've come to an end, Ms. Fraser. You've done it again; you've survived two hours of questions. I often wonder how you do it, but thank you very much for coming, and we thank your colleagues as well.
10:55 a.m.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Thank you, Mr. Chair.