Madam Speaker, I will reiterate my point. The events that have taken place have been so extraordinary that the policy directives we might have had six months or a year ago will be dramatically changed.
I want to be very emphatic with the government. Ressam was headed for Los Angeles bent on doing the same sort of things that happened in New York. The American people apprehended him. Because of our politically correct refugee system, the man lived in our country for six years. The Algerians wanted him because they knew how dangerous he was. My understanding was that we could not send him back because the Algerians may have done something that we might have found offensive in dealing with terrorists. Canada let him go back to Afghanistan for two years while he was waiting here in limbo. We even allowed him to change his name. This is not an isolated case. The king of Jordan has pointed out seven or eight of Ressam's teammates.
I have a problem with the harmonization of our refugee and immigration system. It seems to me that the government has permitted one province to build a firewall and build its own immigration system within the country. I am not exactly sure how that will all fit into the equation if it becomes necessary but it is another sign of decay and decline on the part of the leadership of the government.
That is not the end of it. Interpol's most wanted criminal came back and forth to Canada about 17 times and nobody bothered him. We could not even ask his wife whether she had a husband because the minister of immigration found that offensive and sexist.
The Tamil tigers have something like 40 countries in which they could seek asylum but they like our country. We have that warm, cozy feeling here and once they are here they are pretty safe.
The Americans know these things. I would be really surprised if anyone on the government side did not know that American officials, whether it is the ambassador or whoever, are concerned about the security in our country. It will impact on our border. If they had confidence in our external border system it would eliminate a lot of problems on our internal border. It would be more like the European situation. For years people on the government side and I think my NDP friends have emphasized that we should be doing what Europe does.
Countries in Europe do have very tight perimeters. As much as business is being done inside countries, things move around pretty freely, including labour. Maybe we should be looking at enhancing these same things.