Mr. Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his response. I too enjoy the thoroughness and the relish which he brings to his position.
I still am very concerned that the government does not appear prepared to respond in a substantive way to the allegations made in this report. It talks of the backlog in the refugee applicants, the fact that there are war criminals currently at large in Canada and that there are a number of individuals who have been identified as a threat but who cannot seem to be located.
Yes, there may be some capacity, I would underline some limited capacity, on the part of CSIS for intelligence gathering abroad. However, it has not clear mandate to do so. This is an issue that has been raised repeatedly at the justice committee by myself and other members.
The government has been lax in this area and too slow and weak in its response. There does not appear to be a long term plan or a commitment of resources necessary to address the threat, certainly not at the level on which the United States has been pleading for greater attention.