Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the minister for being here.
To begin, I would like to make a clarification regarding something Ms. James said. The NDP has no intention of giving permanent residence to all temporary foreign workers. We have basically insisted that the conditions and rights of these workers be studied more carefully in order to improve them.
Mr. Minister, my question has to do with a statement you made in 2011 regarding refugees: “We pledge to increase the number of refugees we resettle by 20%”.
For 2012-13, Canada missed its quantitative target for the number of refugees received by 25%. Worse still, that number dropped by 26% over the previous year. By 2015-16, you will reduce refugee protection funding by 16%, in addition to cutting 385 additional positions at CIC.
How are you going to meet this 20% commitment?