Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 8th, 2011

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

Right, but it's fair to say that whether the director was confused, or whether the board was unsure, they could have met with officials. Officials from the ministry are in fact sitting down with you right now, even though the application wasn't made, in an attempt to try to work with you on this process.

[Colin Gomez]

Well, as I understand it, we would have hoped, the mistake having been made, that there might have been a chance to correct that in time. But in fact in seemed like the wheels were turning as if everyone assumed that the application had been made properly. Then suddenly it became obvious that it hadn't, and it was too late.

That was the impression I got from the executive director. She felt—

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

The impression I had from the ministry was that two-thirds of the services delivered by the organization were not applied for.

[Colin Gomez]

They were not applied for by the June deadline, that's right. Instead, by the—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I'm sorry, Mr. Dykstra, the time has expired--for the committee, actually.

Mr. Wrzesnewskyj has put me on notice that he wishes to have a point of order.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

No questions, or is it just...?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I know everybody has questions, but we have about a minute left, and you told me you had a point of order.

You have one too.

Everybody has a point of order.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

It was referenced earlier that we'd like to request a list of all the agencies that had cuts, and the amounts that were cut.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

That's not a point of order, but I will do it. I will direct the clerk to Ms. Tapley, who is the associate assistant deputy minister. We will ask her if she has that information.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

If they could provide that by Friday, that would be tremendous.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We will ask for that as well.

Mr. Oliphant, do you have a point of order?

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

It may be a point of privilege.

The government members seem to have information about perhaps confidential conversations between agencies and government officials that we're not privy to. As parliamentarians, we would like to have all the information that other committee members have regarding what is going on in those agencies.

So I would like you to ask the ministry staff for a status update on the negotiations going on currently, because they obviously know about meetings taking place and those kinds of things. They're not part of the government—they're backbenchers—so I think all backbenchers should have the same amount of information.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I'm a backbencher and I don't know, and it's not a point of order.

Ms. Chow, do you have a point of order?

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

Yes, it's a follow-up. You heard my question to the staff--

[An hon. member]

[Inaudible--Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

It's not a point of privilege.

Ms. Chow has the floor.

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

I'm wondering whether you can entertain my request for the number of newcomers affected, number of staff cut, debt incurred at agencies, assessment tools used, and formula used to determine funding to each region.

I raised it when I was asking them, and they said they would provide it, but I just want to make sure it's formal and in front of you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I don't think that's a point of order either, but I will ask the clerk to request that information.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Oliphant has another point of order.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

I think it's a point of privilege.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes, sir.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

It's a point of parliamentary privilege. There is information that some members of the committee have and others don't. It's not in the newspapers; it's government knowledge.

I really do think that for us to work as a committee, we do need to have equal footing on information. If a Privy Council officer had it, it would be different than if it were not a Privy Council officer.

So I do request that we get an update on all negotiations going on between the government and the agencies, whether they're getting an increase or a decrease in funding.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Well, that's the same point that you raised before. I said it was not a point of privilege.

I also informed you that, as you know, I'm a backbencher, and I don't know the information that you're requesting. I haven't got that impression—

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

[Inaudible--Editor]...backbencher right there--