Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to join with my colleague the member for Winnipeg—Transcona, and our immigration critic, the member for Winnipeg Centre, in saying a few words on Bill C-31, the immigration and refugee protection act.
In general this bill toughens the law with respect to illegal immigrants. It streamlines the laws and regulations which would facilitate easier access to our country by immigrants who wish to come to our country through the front door or through the regulatory process.
Immigration is very important. Practically all of our grandparents, parents or members themselves immigrated to this country from other countries in a process set out in previous legislation in the House of Commons. All of Canada is much stronger and is viewed as the best country in the world because we have been very supportive and embrace new Canadians coming to Canada to help build this great country.
My paternal grandfather came to this country in 1897 from Ukraine. He was recruited by Mr. Sifton of the CPR to go to a place called Fork River, Manitoba. He and many other Ukrainian settlers were given a quarter section of forest in which they were to carve out a living for their families, which he did.
My grandfather, Panko Solomon, went to the Fork River district. Over a period of years he cleared a quarter section, or about 160 acres of land, out of the forest. He cleared about 10 acres of trees with an axe, a saw, chains and a horse. To this day the farm exists as a tribute not only to him and other Ukrainians and settlers who built our country, but to all of our forefathers and foremothers who came here to make a better life for us all.
As an aside, my uncle still owns the property. He has a larger property but he has planted around the home quarter over 100,000 trees. My grandfather would probably turn in his grave if he knew this to be the case, but it is a very nice shelter built around the home quarter.
Bill C-31 tightens laws as they apply to the abuse of immigration. It creates severe penalties for those who smuggle people into Canada with fines up to $1 million and life imprisonment for those who illegally bring in immigrants to the country.
In essence, I think the tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime as it applies to immigration is a very good approach. It is one I personally support and I think most Canadians would support. Public reaction to illegal aliens has been largely negative. Some people have indicated they would halt virtually all immigration. Some people feel deeply for refugees who are following the rules. Those consigned to wait for years in camps until Canadian law affords them the chance to come legally to this country are looking to this bill with some interest.
The bill also increases the number of immigration control officers abroad. I guess what has always been a problem with Liberal legislation is that Liberals always introduce legislation which makes people feel good, but they never back it up with resources to actually implement the laws.
We have seen this for example in the smuggling of cigarettes. Rather than toughen up the laws and introduce resources to hire more customs officers to nail the smugglers, the Liberals passed feel good legislation saying they are going to reduce taxes on tobacco which will take the product off the smugglers' priority list.
Of course smugglers will move from smuggling cigarettes to smuggling guns. Rather than commit resources of our country to stop the smugglers of guns, the government passed the gun registration law which does nothing to affect it. It makes people feel good because the Liberals are doing something about the problem, but nothing ever happens because there are not the resources to back it up.
I am worried that there will not be resources. I would like to see the minister's projections with respect to the number of dollars and immigration officers the government is going to commit in our consulates and embassies around the world to actually undertake to enforce Bill C-31. I would like to see it not only abroad but in Canada as well.
We have had some experiences in Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre with respect to immigration which are worrisome. Saskatchewan is a landlocked province in the centre of our country. People who come to our country wishing to immigrate or to bring in family members always have to go back to the country of origin or go to Seattle or Buffalo to the nearest Canadian consulates in the U.S. to apply for immigration. That has been a travel hardship for many people. I hope that the new rules will allow students easier access to our country, those who have proven to be good citizens while they were here.
The family reunification challenge has always been complex. In Saskatchewan we have been very troubled with the lack of speed to reunify families. As the minister has indicated, family reunification is very beneficial. When their families are here immigrants tend to work harder to make sure that their families have a solid economic base. I am very concerned that this sort of streamlining occurs in particular for the family reunification process.
The bill has many parts. It provides things such as security checks for persons making refugee claims. It bars access to the refugee determination system and eliminates appeals for serious criminals, security risks, organizers of criminal operations or violators of human rights.
I wonder if the minister could tell us if this bill will address the issue that appeared on the front page of the Globe and Mail on Saturday dealing with Chinese triads.