Mr. Speaker, yesterday Statistics Canada released a report highlighting that the financial situation of new immigrants showed no improvement from 1992 to 2004. This should come as no surprise given that the Liberals were in power. Despite a lot of talk, they just did not get the job done.
While the Liberals froze assistance to help new immigrants read and write for over 12 years and voted against increased funding, we have committed $307 million in settlement funding to help newcomers integrate and excel in Canada. We have cut the right of permanent residence fee in half. We have granted almost 11,000 off-campus work permits to international students. We committed $18 million to establish an agency to address the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials.
When it comes to new Canadians, our government cares and we show we care by delivering real results.