Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 24th, 2011

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

I know Daniel hasn't had a chance to hang out here at committees, so maybe I can direct these questions to him as well. At least the first question is more of a description of the funding part.

We've noticed an increase, at least in this quarter, of $83.6 million. Could you give us a brief overview of that, because it does seem like a substantial increase from the last quarter?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

I'll defer the question to Mr. Paquette.

[Daniel Paquette, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

You're referring to the quarterly...?

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

Yes, I am. The budget is going to rise by about $83.6 million, which is pretty significant, and our total expenditures are $1.532 billion. Could you briefly describe what those increases mean and if this is a dramatic increase from last quarter, but more importantly, is it going to average out over the entire year?

[Daniel Paquette]

I want to make sure you have the right quarter here.

[Neil Yeates]

I think the explanation, Mr. Chair, is actually fairly straightforward. Part of what affects the quarterly statements is the actual timing of the estimates. What was within the first quarter last year is in the second quarter—or third quarter in this case—this year. That's part of what happens, and it affects our cashflow. The overall budget is, roughly speaking, the same.

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

Okay, so this isn't a significant increase overall. It will mean we will be where we need to be. All right. Thanks.

One of the questions that has been referred to—this is a slight estimate question—and I think it's an issue that was raised with respect to our refugee reform and the additional costs we are incurring based on our interim federal health program.... We have a significant increase of about $33 million, or at least the request for $33 million, in 2011-12, to augment the $50 million already in the reference levels. Can we get some clarification? It shows we're obviously taking on a larger number of refugees this year, which is very positive for the country, very positive for our commitment to the refugee system throughout the world. Could you give us a bit of an overview as to why there is that request and that bump?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Well, Mr. Chairman, to be honest, every year we come back with a similar supplementary estimate for the interim federal health program, because as an artifact of the government's budgeting, we are given a certain amount for IFH each year in our A-base budget, and every year we end up with a large number of asylum claimants, more than we can afford to provide health care to under the A-base budget. So that's why every year we end up coming back for a supplementary “ask” to provide interim federal health to those asylum claimants through supplementary estimates.

I would say we anticipate that when we are able to implement our new, streamlined, balanced refugee reform system next year, there will be fewer false asylum claims made in Canada. In the long run, we estimate that if that is the case, it will help save tax dollars with respect to IFH and other benefits for asylum claimants.

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

I've had questions in my constituency about the federal health program and whether or not it's consistent with the health care that Canadians receive—whether refugees receive less than what average Canadians receive or whether they actually receive more. Could you give a brief description of what the status of that is?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

That's a very good question.

Mr. Chair, IFH provides the basic suite of health services that would be available to Canadian residents through their provincial health care plans. It also provides certain supplementary benefits that Canadians typically have to pay for through their own private supplementary benefit packages for such things as dental or opthamological care or drugs and so on.

I've heard concern expressed by Canadians on the same grounds: many Canadians, particularly seniors, have a hard time understanding why asylum claimants, particularly those who are illegal migrants who don't really need Canada's protection but are bogus refugee claimants, should be receiving better health care benefits than they do. That's something we're looking at.

I think there's a strong equity argument that we should not be providing to such migrants more generous benefits than Canadians can receive through their publicly funded health care insurance system.

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

Thank you.

Those are all my questions. I understand we need to have a vote, Mr. Chairman, so do we have enough time to do that?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We do.

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

I would like to thank the officials again for being here, especially Mr. Linklater, who usually has to respond to a lot of questions. He actually didn't have to respond to any questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Minister, we have had a lot of questions on backlog and a smattering on the auditor's report.

We're now going to vote on estimates.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the opposition, I also want to thank the minister and his staff for coming in and giving their time. I know he's very busy, and I appreciate all the thoughtful answers he gave.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Well, we can all say thank you.

Thank you very much for coming. You and your colleagues are excused.

Okay, members of the committee, we will vote on supplementary estimates.

Shall votes 1b and 7b under Citizenship and Immigration carry?

CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION

Department

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$51,749,542

Vote 7b—Pursuant to Section 25(2) of the Financial Administration Act..........$1,700,056

(Votes 1b and 7b agreed to)

Shall I report the supplementary estimates (B) to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

As soon as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We will probably do that next Monday.

The meeting is adjourned.