Thank you.
I would like to go back to something my colleague just said. In his view, the aim here is to reduce waiting times and delays in the processing of citizenship files. That is a very noble objective. It should have been done long ago.
However, the Conservatives are going about it the wrong way. If we delay the opportunity for these people to file their applications for a year or two, that will be perfect if we want to adjust the statistics for the next federal election, but it will have no impact in the long term. There will of course be a decline in the number of applications because the administrative process will be slightly slowed, but, once this period of time is over, the number of applications from these people who are getting ready to submit their applications over the next year will rise again.
I believe that is very clearly illustrated here. The government is refusing to respect the life plans of the people who had intended to file their citizenship applications over the next year or two precisely so it can adjust the statistics for the election. This problem has been around for a long time and should have been solved a long time ago.
On the eve of the election, however, a minor one- or two-year delay before people can submit a citizenship application will be the perfect way to reduce the number of applications temporarily and improve statistics in the short term, not the long term, without adding any new resources. It was important to point that out.
Thank you.