Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 9th, 2010

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Has new clause 14.1 been carried?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Amendment G-2.3 will result in a new clause, and we've already voted on that through amendment BQ-5.1. I hope I'm not confusing you.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Sorry, we did amendment G-2.2. And we did amendment G-2.3 earlier.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes, we did. It was adopted.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Okay, so have we done clause 14 and new clause 14.1?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Okay, how are we doing?

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

I'm not sure we passed clause 14.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We did. We're going at a frantic pace here.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Are we at new clause 14.1 now?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

No, we're on clause 15. We're now going on to clause 15, unless someone wants to correct me.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

No, I'm satisfied.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

All right.

Okay, we're on clause 15, and we have amendment G-3.

(On clause 15)

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

I move the amendment, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You realize, Ms. Chow, if that is adopted, amendment NDP-9, which is the next one, cannot be moved.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Chair, on both of these, clause 15 and amendment G-3 are moving the responsibility of the IRB and the minister on PRRA. There are actually other motions here that transfer all the responsibility to the refugee board, which I support. We went through this when we were talking during the technical briefing last time we met. I was able to get assurances that it was a good route to go, and I'm convinced of that. So I will support amendment G-3 and other motions that are coming up later from the government.

However, amendment NDP-9 would eliminate the one-year bar on the PRRA. I no longer need to do this because the one-year bar from humanitarian and compassionate grounds has been granted, so I no longer need to rely on the PRRA. The PRRA is not a very effective instrument anyway. In the past only 2% or 3% got approved. So I'd much rather have an appeal division than go the PRRA route. I have no trouble pulling back amendment NDP-9, which deals with giving the failed claimants the access to PRRA.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Thank you.

(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

(Clause 15 as amended agreed to)

(On clause 16)

On clause 16, we have government amendment G-4.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

So moved.

(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Shall clause 16 as amended carry?

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

There's no amendment G-5.1?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I haven't got there yet.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

It's a new clause. Sorry.

(Clause 16 as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We're now on to the new clause, 16.1, which is amendment G-5. I think I told you before that amendment G-5 is inadmissible, so we're on to amendment G-5.1.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

I'll withdraw amendment G-5 and I move amendment G-5.1.

(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

(Clauses 17 to 19 inclusive agreed to)

(On clause 20)