Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member for Scarborough-Rouge River on the interesting work he has done on behalf both of his constituents and all Canadians on this issue.
I might add, and I know the hon. member made mention of this, that it is not just in this Parliament but in the previous Parliament as well. He deserves congratulations. His interest in this is both timely and a good reminder to all of us who work in this area.
This is an area that interests all Canadians and that is why the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has announced a new consultation for a 10-year immigration framework and one that the minister hopes to be making the first statements about this coming fall.
Canada's Immigration Act lists clear policy objectives to facilitate the entry of visitors into Canada for the purpose of fostering trade and commerce, tourism, culture and scientific activities and international understanding.
The decision to issue or not to issue a visitor's visa is based on the intention of the person seeking to visit Canada. It is very interesting that this bill should come up for debate today because I was discussing this very matter with senior departmental personnel earlier today before an appearance at the committee. One of the more senior public servants was telling me that one of the things he makes a point to do when he visits our offices abroad is to go to the visa office and observe the visa officers.
I think it is very true and something that bears repeating here in the House that the particular knowledge and ability of our visa officers, who are a very small but very specialized group in our foreign service, to make the decision right there on the ground particularly in some of the offices that are very crowded, that are over-subscribed by vast numbers of people wishing to come to Canada for a variety of reasons, to make good decisions and to make the right decisions is pretty amazing. The senior staff I spoke to today made mention of this more than once as something that we should be very proud of, our foreign service officials who are working for Canada.
We have in place a network of 47 full service and 25 specialized officers abroad located in Canadian embassies, high commissions and consulates who are ready to process visitors' visa requests all the time.
In 1993 Canadian officials overseas received 627,394 applications for visitors' visas. They issued 546,457 of these visas. Only 81,937 of these requests were refused or withdrawn. That is an 87 per cent acceptance rate and I think that is, again, an amazing figure. Most of these visitor visa requests are completed within 24 hours.
In general, the problems we hear of as members of Parliament make up a very small percentage of the volume that is done by our Canadian offices abroad.
I want to make very clear that the minister believes the hon. member raises some very important issues with his private member's bill. They are issues certainly worthy of review. I am sure the minister responsible for citizenship and immigration will take the member's words and bill for review. A great deal of interest such as has been generated here today will continue certainly on behalf of the minister and the department.