Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the people of Surrey Central to oppose Bill C-63, the government's proposed changes to the Citizenship Act.
My constituents and I are well aware, as are many Canadians across the country, that our immigration and refugee system is in bad shape. In this legislation the government has chosen to deal with issues concerning Canadian citizenship instead of the serious flaws in our immigration and refugee system. This is mismanagement by the minister. She is mismanaging her priorities. Canadians want her to work on our broken refugee and immigration system.
We should welcome genuine refugees. They deserve our protection. In his December 1997 report the auditor general said that the current process does not quickly grant Canada's protection to claimants who genuinely need it.
The Liberals have no political will to improve the situation. The Liberal members on the immigration committee even refuse to study in the future business of the committee the abuse of our immigration and refugee system by drug dealers, terrorists and other criminals.
Imagine one morning waking up and seeing someone sitting in your living room. You wonder how that person entered your home. No bells rang. You had not let anyone come in. Eventually you find that while the front door was closed the person had no difficulty using the back door. It had been left wide open. After dealing with the person, would you not make sure to keep the back door closed? Then the next time someone rang the bell you would know who your visitor was and you would have the opportunity to show the courtesy of welcoming the guest in and making him or her feel at home.
In our immigration system the front doors are closed or partially closed. But the back doors are wide open and the government is keeping it that way. In our refugee process and system the back door is abused by criminals. Drug dealers come here to sell drugs to our children.
Canada is a country of immigrants. Genuine immigrants should be welcomed through the front door. Their cases should be processed as quickly as possible without any harassment or unnecessary court expenses.
The Liberal government has no political will to fix the system. Rather, it wants to make patchwork changes to the Citizenship Act. The auditor general cautioned the government against making patchwork changes. He indicated that the problem is complex and that there is a need to conduct a total review of the refugee claim process. It is four and a half years—