Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the member for Calgary--Nose Hill. I think that was about as good a summation of the whole area and some of the problems and some of the challenges in that area as I have heard in quite some time. I could not help but think that in those 20 minutes she covered a lot of territory and certainly articulated for the House some of the challenges we have in this area .
One of the areas on which I am going to ask her to comment is the whole question of spousal reunification. One of the things that has been a big disappointment to me as a member of Parliament is the number of people who come in and indicate that they are trying to get their spouse, usually from the United States, into this country and they just cannot get the file processed.
I do not know whether it is a question of not enough resources. I suspect that it is. It is not enough just to have a policy; we must have the resources to back it up. I think that is what is not happening.
In my area of Hamilton and Niagara when we call on these cases, officials indicate that they are just starting to look at the applications from June of 2003. I hope this is not duplicated across the country, but I suspect that it is, and good heavens, we are not on this earth for hundreds of years. People want to get on with their lives. It is very frustrating for me as an MP when we make these inquiries and find that they have not started on those cases from almost two years ago. It is very difficult to try to explain to people.
One of the things I would hope for, however short the life of this government--