That's actually a very good point.
What's lost in much of the debate on refugee reform is the fact that the new system will be massively better for bona fide refugees.
As I've often said, someone who steps off the plane from Tehran with the physical or proverbial signs of torture on their back is told by us to wait in the line for almost two years, for about 21 months, before they even get a hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board. That is in large measure because the system has been clogged up by so many fake asylum claimants.
Don't forget that 62% of claims are abandoned, withdrawn, or rejected in our fair and generous legal system. Those people are taking up spots in front of the IRB, sucking up resources, and blocking the queue for the bona fide refugees who need our certainty, who need our protection. So the new system will allow those clearly bona fide refugees to get a hearing at the IRB in about two months, at which time they will get a pre-positive protection decision, permanent residency, and certainty for their future in Canada, together with the privilege of sponsoring in family members. There is, I believe, a humanitarian imperative.
I want to say as well, while it's not legislatively linked, the 20% increase in our target for the resettlement of convention refugees and our support for them is really tied to the whole asylum reform process. The idea was that if we can reduce the number of false asylum claimants abusing our country's generosity and using enormous resources, then we can do more to help bona fide refugees, victims of ethnic cleansing warfare and persecution waiting patiently in UN camps around the world for a chance to resettle to a country like Canada. The deal is to crack down on the abuse so we can open the door more widely to bona fide refugees.