Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak to Motion M-195. Basically, this is a motion to establish a secretariat responsible for overseeing the foreign credential recognition program.
In immigration matters, some files are simple, while others are complex; some are a little obscure, while others are more transparent. Motion No. 195 is one of the latter. The situation could hardly be clearer. In the opinion of the Bloc Québécois, Ottawa simply does not have jurisdiction on such a motion. This is not a fabrication of mine.
In fact, in a recent conversation with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, on which I have the pleasure of sitting, the hon. member for Vancouver Centre clearly recognized it. Allow me to quote her:
Credential recognition largely falls under provincial jurisdiction, a responsibility which has in the legislation been delegated to the regulatory bodies
We must understand—there are members in this House who do not seem to understand—that, in matters of immigration, the distribution of powers between Ottawa on the one hand, and Quebec and the provinces on the other hand, is very clear. It could not be any clearer, particularly for all matters pertaining to Quebec. We have the Canada-Quebec accord, which did not appear out of thin air, out of the blue. It was signed back in 1991 and is very comprehensive.
On the topic of foreign credential recognition, this accord is unequivocal: it is the responsibility of Quebec, not that of planet Mars. Section 25 of the accord is disconcertingly simple. It states, “Canada undertakes to withdraw from specialized economic integration services to beprovided by Québec to permanent residents in Québec”.
It cannot get much more transparent than that. However, there are cases where this agreement can be waived. For example, this is true for standards applicable to all of Canada. But, there can be no question of that here. In fact, it is not possible to have Canadian standards applicable to all professions, just as there simply are not standards applicable to all professional associations. This same logic applies to various regulatory bodies or educational institutions. Each one is free to create its own. It is certainly not up to the Canadian government to define the standards.
All the stakeholders involved in the foreign credential recognition process agree at least on one thing: it is extremely difficult to reach agreement with the professional associations—true—because each one, out of professionalism, has its own requirements. There has to be some consistency, and that is logical. The various stakeholders also agree that it is not possible, here, to have a package deal. The notion of standards cannot apply to the field, simply because one cannot be compared to another. This is a simple truth.
Everyone agrees too that it is essential to reach agreement with the professional associations and no one else—not with a new player joining those already in place. I do not want to give a lesson or a demonstration in this House on federalism. I will leave that to those who are still interested in it. However, it is important to remember that the provinces have exclusive jurisdiction over professional associations.
The debate could even conclude here, because it simply is irrelevant in this Parliament.
What is the meaning of this Liberal motion? I can see only one: it is yet another attempt to interfere in a discussion in which the federal government clearly has no place. This is not the first time and I imagine that it will not be the last. This happened with regard to parental leave. It also happened with regard to the famous millennium scholarships—yet another intrusion.
Canada's immigration system—even the last immigration minister recognized it—is not in good shape. We are in agreement. There are considerable delays. Here is yet another reason to address these delays and finally examine the issues so as to refocus. There is enough to do here before it pokes its nose where it does not belong.
It would be possible, anyway, for the federal government to find a solution to the problem of recognizing foreign credentials, because this is something we are already working on in Quebec. We have been focussing efforts on it for a number of years. It is a lengthy process, with all manner of difficulties. How then can the federal government claim—I find this rather amusing—to go still further than Quebec, when it has to deal with more parties than Quebec does? That claim does not hold up to scrutiny.
In fact, all that this interventionist approach will lead to is headaches, court challenges and disputes, more delays, lost time and energy, and wasted resources as well. Can we afford such wasteful systems?
If, with all the parties around the table and with the involvement of the all the professional accreditation bodies, Quebec is making only slow progress, no one can expect Ottawa will find it easier. Moreover, at this point in time, the mere act of initiating discussions with the professional associations, with whom Ottawa has no right to be dealing, runs the risk of compromising the progress Quebec has already made and the discussions it has already held. Ottawa is liable to slow down the process already under way and the final outcome will be a realization that they have reached a stalemate and so it will be back to square one.
Why insist on sabotaging a process that is already a difficult and laborious one, when there are so many other problems to be solved. Moreover, there are other issues to be solved that do fall under federal jurisdiction, so they could focus on them. They could start attacking them seriously right now. This very morning in committee—this happened in the immigration committee with my colleague—they were discussing the refugee appeal division. There are considerable delays. When will they start processing immigration files faster? All these delays poison the system. This is where the federal government could get involved. This is where they can play a role in moving things ahead. But no. Instead of putting a proper refugee appeal division in place, they again start interfering in others' jurisdiction and start talking about a national secretariat. Everyone is already saying there are too many structures, too many procedures, too much bureaucracy, and yet they would like to have one more thing: a national secretariat.
In my opinion, Ottawa must resolve the issue of partisan appointments once and for all. Why go to Quebec and see what is already being done and try to correct it? The delays—I already mentioned this—are still very long. In terms of the problems reuniting families, all the riding offices are inundated with requests to do so. There are considerable delays. There is a lot of work to be done and Quebec cannot resolve all this at once. However, we are working on it. What is Ottawa doing in the meantime? I wonder.
I would say Ottawa is trying to confuse the issue. We cannot say it enough in this House; the recognition of foreign credentials is not a federal jurisdiction.
I would like someone to explain to me, since no one was able to earlier, why there should be a secretariat to coordinate activities for which money has already been paid. The money in question exceeds what is needed for setting up the refugee appeal section people want.
How can we make Citizenship and Immigration understand this? There are so many problems. Why was money allocated to the foreign credential recognition initiative before any guidelines were drafted?
It is very clear that the recognition of foreign credentials is a provincial jurisdiction. In my opinion, this has been made abundantly clear by the Bloc Québécois over the years. What was true at the time is still true now. Parliament has no business discussing this motion. The Bloc Québécois will vote against Motion No. 195. I call on all hon. members of this House to respect Quebec's jurisdictions.