I have a constituent who is a permanent resident. His wife and children are 100% present in Canada. His family immigrated here from overseas, and he's developed a successful business in the Gulf, which he frequently attends to. He flies back and forth. He continues to operate that business to support his family. He has spent time in the Gulf tending to that business. Bill C-24 changed longstanding Canadian citizenship law by reducing residency to a question of days of physical presence.
Our current Minister of Immigration, when he was a third-party member of a committee, criticized Bill C-24 by saying it tightened the definition of residence so as not to allow any more time spent abroad.
The constituent is working for a Canadian company, but Bill C-6 doesn't address that restriction. As a result, my constituent's wife and children would easily qualify for citizenship, which they already did, but he may never be able to get citizenship due to his attending to his business overseas.
Your brief today addresses the issue at length, on pages 5 through 8. Could you take us through your evidence in regard to the undue restriction on the definition of residence?