Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Auditor General, I would like to first of all thank you very much for all the work you do on behalf of the people of Canada, work that I know myself and actually members of the Liberal caucus take very seriously.
I'm going to take this opportunity, very briefly, in two or three minutes, to outline some of the concerns you have raised, and I would like to hear from you a description of how you would describe essentially the state of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration as it relates to the issues that you have raised. If I were a real partisan guy, you've given me an embarrassment of riches, but I'm motivated by a higher calling, which is to provide Canadians the best possible alternative.
When we look at your report, the audit expected CIC to “have a clear vision of how many immigrants should be selected under each category over a multi-year planning horizon”. Despite the commitments made in 2004, a national immigration framework, such as a “strategic roadmap” was still absent. That's one issue.
Then on the issue of strategic planning and programming--and this is from the Library of Parliament's briefing note--“The audit found that evaluations of the programs covered were dated and had not been implemented in a timely fashion that would assist in program development.”
On the issue of federal skilled workers, “the audit examines the backlog of applications, which had reached more than 620,000 people by 31 December 2000, as well as measures taken to address the backlog”. You found problems there as well. Then “The audit makes a number of observations and three recommendations related to the ministerial instructions. First, insufficient analysis was undertaken in the development of ministerial instructions”--and this of course refers to Bill C-50. And then “Second, the early evidence indicates that the instructions may not be meeting the goal of reducing the number of new applications”, and “Third...the audit found that the process and mechanisms for on-going monitoring and revision of the instructions are lacking.” Then, “Finally, the audit examines the centralized intake office for federal skilled worker.... It finds that the centralized intake office was implemented without sufficient analysis and has encountered some serious difficulties....”
On the provincial nominee program, the briefing note says that “little evaluation has taken place to assess whether the provincial nominee programs are meeting the objectives of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act”. As I said, there are many, many other issues related to temporary foreign workers.
You raised concerns with “the quality and consistency of decisions on labour market opinions” and “ found that directives were unclear or incomplete and that interpretations varied from one region to another and within offices”. The briefing note further states that “With regard to assessment of the genuineness of a job offer for a temporary foreign worker, the audit found that HRSDC and CIC 'have not clearly defined their respective roles and responsibilities', and that measures were not in place to systematically verify job offers.”
I'm simply listing these things for Canadians, who I am sure are viewing this program, because I know they care about Parliament and the work we do. I'm just listing all these things to get a sense of the magnitude of the challenges that this government and we collectively as a Parliament face in addressing these issues. In all the reports that you have written, and you have written many, where do you put this in the sense of a crisis situation? You've written a lot of reports. How serious are these issues?