Evidence of meeting #123 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was irb.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
If it were more than that, then that delta would grow.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Okay.
When do you plan on briefing the minister with regard to your potential solutions for this?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
We're working through options right now with the team. We're looking at a number of things, and I'm happy to try to explain the approach that we're adopting.
As I'm sure members of this committee understand, it's not as simple as saying, "Look, there's a backlog of some 60,000. Therefore how many people would it take to get rid of 60,000?"
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
We're working through various options right now, where we're looking at—
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Going back though, in terms of timeline, when do you plan on presenting that to the government?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
As I indicated in my opening remarks, over the course of the next couple of months we are putting a proposal together, working with the department. We'll be in a position to brief the minister, I imagine, over the next few months.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Great.
Would you be willing to table with the committee an appropriately classified document that outlines your approaches to that particular.... I think it's important for parliamentarians to understand that. The government, I would imagine, would be discussing this in terms of the federal budget.
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Mr. Chair, no, I wouldn't be comfortable....
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I respect my colleague's need to question the witness, but we are here to discuss his qualifications and competencies as they relate to his ability to perform the duty.
I respect that there's latitude given to members here at the committee about the overall vision of Mr. Wex at the IRB, but I would suggest that it stay within the confines of questioning about the capacity and performance competencies of the chair.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, in response to that, this is like a job interview, right? If there is a problem that is being presented in a job interview, one would want to know the candidate's understanding of the scope of the problem and potential approaches to dealing with the problem, in order to evaluate whether this person has the competency to meet that.
I would say that this is very much in scope. Given the severity in terms of the importance of immigration policy that Mr. Wex has to deal with, I think it is in scope. I don't see how it wouldn't be.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
I would agree that your explanation is in scope, but I think requesting the tabling of a document that we don't know exists or we don't know what it is, would not be in scope. It is very fair to ask the witness what his vision is, but I don't think it would be within scope to ask him to table a document that doesn't yet exist.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
In terms of a question on that, why wouldn't we, as parliamentarians, want to know what this person's plan is for dealing with a 65,000-case inventory? I'd just like to hear your rationale for that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
The reality is that we have a witness here. You've asked a question, and I think it's very fair to ask him his plans. That is very fair—
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
With respect, you just contradicted yourself, because you just said it was appropriate to ask for his plan. I asked for his plan, and then you said he shouldn't table his plan.
Can you just explain to the committee why you feel—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
That is a normal thing, but to ask him to table a document, I think, is outside our scope, because we don't know if that document exists. We don't know the confidentiality of that document.
Liberal