I don't accept that characterization, Ms. Sims. There have been a lot of suggestions from some opposition MPs and others that the minister will be interfering in asylum decisions and arbitrarily rejecting them. Let's be clear. Every decision on every asylum claim will be made by an independent, highly trained member of the quasi-judicial IRB, either at the initial instance at the RPD or at the refugee appeal division. The vast majority of claimants will also likely seek access to the Federal Court.
At no stage does the minister intervene in the consideration of a claim. The only increase in the authority of the minister, who is accountable to Parliament for the exercise of such authority, is in the designation of countries. We believe it's necessary to be able to respond quickly to emerging waves of highly organized false claims.
I'll give you one example. The Czech Republic had a visa exemption in 1995, followed by a huge wave of unfounded claims, which resulted in the reimposition of the visa requirement in 1997. We granted them an exemption in 2008, followed by another huge wave of unfounded claims and a visa imposition in 2009.
We would like to get back to a Czech visa exemption. We'd like to have a European-wide visa exemption to facilitate trade, tourism, and travel. But we won't be able to do so unless we can quickly put in place streamlined, accelerated provisions, such as through the designation power, and that's why we believe the minister needs that authority.
Oh, you're now becoming acting chair, are you? These are musical chairs.