House of Commons Hansard #116 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was immigrants.

Topics

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

The amendment is not acceptable and that is the end of that matter.

On a point of order, the hon. member for Kitchener Centre.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, discussions have taken place between all parties and I believe that you will find consent for the following motion:

That at the conclusion of today's debate on the Opposition Motion in the name of the hon. member for Mississauga—Erindale, all questions necessary to dispose of this motion be deemed put, a recorded division deemed requested and deferred to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27, 2007.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

(Motion agreed to)

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

11:55 a.m.

Souris—Moose Mountain Saskatchewan

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, it was certainly a pleasure to hear some of the meaningful and helpful suggestions put forward by the member for Burnaby—Douglas. The comments regarding private sponsorship and how highly motivated the parties are behind it is something we should encourage and move forward on. It is a good suggestion, no doubt.

I have a question relating to the issue he raised with respect to the Refugee Appeal Division and, without getting into the matter, whether it should or should not be. Would the member agree with me that, in the current system we now have, it takes an inordinate length of time for a determination to be ultimately made and that just simply implementing an appeal division without dealing with the system in a more systemic and larger way would add an additional five or more months, in some cases perhaps even longer?

Given that we have the right of appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal on a number of grounds, that we have pre-removal risk assessments that take place independently from the IRB hearings, that we also have humanitarian and compassionate grounds that can be made at any point in time in the system which cumulatively has added perhaps years to the determination process, does the member have any suggestions on how the system, in a systemic and larger way beyond just the appeal provision itself, can be dealt with to have the process expedited and the matter of the time it takes to make a determination on all those issues handled in such a fashion that Canadians and the public would have it done in a reasonable time at a reasonable cost? I would like to hear the member's thoughts on that.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

Noon

NDP

Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, I want to start at a more basic point. I believe the Refugee Appeal Division needs to be implemented because that is the law. That is the law that was passed in this place. I do not think there is any excuse for Liberal governments or Conservative governments deciding they are above the law that was passed in this House, especially when it arose out of a compromise in the work that was done in this place.

That is a crucial issue. It should be implemented because it exists in the law. It is a provision in the law that would bring more justice and fairness to the process. It is absolutely necessary because it was passed in this place and also because it is a measure of justice and fairness.

The estimates of the cost of this have not been high. The previous government used to say that it would take $2 million to implement and $8 million a year to run. The current government has bumped that up a little and also said there are provincial costs involved in all of this.

I suppose we could drag it on and make it exponential and all of that, but the reality is that it is a very simple measure that would bring justice and fairness. Every refugee and immigrant-serving agency in the country has called for its implementation. Many international organizations have called for its implementation as well. I do not think there is any excuse for not implementing it.

The other measure that would bring some speed to the process would be to ensure a full complement of members on the Immigration and Refugee Board. There are vacancies on that board. There have been vacancies on the board for many years. Judges who were board members have not been reappointed. If the government would ensure the IRB had a full complement, that would go a significant way in ensuring some speed in the process.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

Noon

Bloc

Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC

Mr. Speaker, what I wanted to say is that the Government of Quebec had indicated to the federal government that it wanted the refugee appeal division, that it wanted this appeal division to be set up.

In committee, the Conservative government made it known, as my colleague for Burnaby—Douglas mentioned, that the cost would be exorbitant. Recently, we were given a breakdown and, in fact, the largest amount pertains to Ontario. Amounts for Quebec are lower.

I also wanted to look at the issue of the interests of children in matters off immigration. In this House, we have heard several questions posed to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Children born here in Canada—thus Canadian children in principle—are returned with their parents, who are failed refugees.

I do not understand, in the review of applications based on humanitarian grounds, why having children born in this country does not carry more weight. There is also the issue of the reunification of refugee families. These are individuals whom we have agreed to protect. Does my colleague find it normal that they have to wait five or six years to be reunited? After receiving protection, they must continue to live with the fear that their children may still be in danger.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

Noon

NDP

Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, the member for Vaudreuil-Soulanges raises a crucial point. Our system of refugee determination has taken too long in many cases. To hear of cases that have gone on for five, six, sometimes seven years, or more is absolutely unconscionable. Those people have come to Canada and have become part of our communities. Their children have often been born here. Many of their children have been educated here and integrated into our educational system, and have no contact with their parent's country of origin. At the end of that process, to finally get a decision saying they have to leave Canada is unfair and unjust to those families.

The member for Hamilton Mountain raised exactly one of those situations earlier this morning in debate when she asked about a family in her riding who, after five years, finally had a determination from the refugee process that said they had to leave Canada. This is upsetting the lives of their family to no end. Their children had a possibility of a bright future here in Canada with acceptance at university and acceptance in professional programs. That is all in question now because of the length of time it took to make that decision.

There needs to be some kind of limitation on how long people have to wait for those determinations. If it goes past a certain point, efforts should be made to regularize them here in Canada because of the length of time it has taken for the system to do its job.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:05 p.m.

Liberal

Andrew Telegdi Liberal Kitchener—Waterloo, ON

Mr. Speaker, I very much wish the amendments would have been part of the main motion.

First, it is really important what language we use when we deal with citizenship and immigration. It is okay to refer to the landing fee as a bad public policy, but we should never call it a head tax because that ends up diminishing the suffering resulting from a very racist piece of legislation. I am sure my colleague would agree that the landing fee is not racist, but it might be a policy with which he disagrees.

The member mentioned the new Citizenship Act, and I know his thoughts on the issue; it is wrong for politicians to take away citizenship without right to appeal and outside of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. My thought is that it is just as wrong to wholesale give people citizenship by a stamp of the minister. What is the criteria for making that decision?

We will be going through a process where tens of thousands of people, who should be Canadian citizens but because of sexist and anti-charter policies, have lost their citizenship. When we return those citizenships, it should be done by legislation, so it does not depend on the goodwill of a minister, but by law, a law on which we have all agreed.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:05 p.m.

NDP

Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge the caution that the member for Kitchener—Waterloo raises around diminishing the tragedy of the Chinese head tax. He raises a good point about that, although, in popular parlance, sometimes the right of landing fee is referred in those terms.

I pay tribute to the member Kitchener—Waterloo. He is one of the great experts in this place on citizenship policy. He has made that one of his key interests in his time here as a member of Parliament. I think he raises important points about political control over the awarding of citizenship. He is absolutely right that it should be based in legislation and on the provisions of a Citizenship Act, not left up to the discretion of the minister to make those kinds of ultimate decisions.

The process of revocation should not have any political involvement in it either. That is one of the flaws of the current Citizenship Act, which the standing committee raised in the last Parliament. The minister should not have any involvement in revoking citizenship because of the political implications that has. In fact, in the last Parliament we heard a minister of citizenship hint it might be action that could be taken against another member of Parliament, very inappropriately I have to say.

I think he is right. We need a clear Citizenship Act. We need citizenship judges who have the ability to make decisions based on that legislation. I have always been someone who strongly supported the role of the Citizenship Court judge in the system.

I am very disappointed that the Conservatives have suspended the screening process that was implemented by the senior Citizenship Court judge to review appointments to the Citizenship Court. They have reverted to some nebulous process.

The minister was at committee this Monday. She could not explain the screening process that replaced the senior Citizenship Court judge's process, which was a very detailed process. Her comments on that were very nebulous and very confusing. She was not even clear what process had been undertaken for the screening of the people who had come forward and had already been appointed under the Conservative government to that important position.

This is another area where we need to ensure a rigorous process is in place to get the best people for the job. It is a very important job. It is often the job that represents this nation to people at a very crucial point in their journey of immigration and becoming citizens in Canada. We need to ensure we have the best possible people in there. That screening process needs to be reinstituted immediately.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to participate in a debate that has been going on for a long time about a subject that is critical to this country's social and economic well-being. Although it is an honour, it is sad that it has come to this.

I support the motion tabled by my colleague from Mississauga—Erindale:

That, in the opinion of the House, immigrants to Canada and persons seeking Canadian citizenship are poorly served by this government.

Over the next 20 minutes, I will show just how poorly the Conservative government is treating immigrants. The fact is that the government talks a lot, but since it was elected to run this country, it has not done a thing to improve the difficult situation immigrants to Canada and persons seeking Canadian citizenship are experiencing. That was over a year ago. Actually, it has been a year and a half.

We have only heard talk, but seen no action. Immigration is a subject to which the Conservatives have paid lip service and which they believe they can sweep under the rug. They still think Canadians will be satisfied with the non-results.

I speak about the accusations the government has made against its own citizens living abroad in a time of their need, the promises for the recognition of their foreign credentials, the inability to deal effectively with the plight of foreign trained workers, in a holistic way, who are underemployed and unemployed.

The Conservative government has made promises that have not been kept. It has made non-announcements for the sake of making non-announcements. For example, it has offered a mere $18 million over a two year period to the provincial governments to support programs for the recognition of foreign trained professionals, and yet nothing is happening.

I will also speak about the lack of services to francophone minority groups living across the country, which the Conservative government has ignored under its own immigration agreement.

I will also briefly discuss the impact on small and medium-sized businesses who are not given any incentives to recruit and train new arrivals.

These concerns have been raised by the business leaders, unions, community groups and even the mothers I met during my travels across Canada over the past two years.

Small businesses cannot afford to bring in people for a year like big businesses can. Small and medium sized businesses need the training dollars because their businesses cannot afford to absorb these costs on their own.

Also, this includes the negative impact on these businesses if the Conservative government does not adjust the entry system to deal with the pressing need for semi-skilled workers and workers in trades that do not require university degrees. I am talking of the point system for prospective immigrants.

These skills that are needed to keep our economy thriving do not figure on the list of skills on the point system. How is the government then serving the underemployed and unemployed newcomers? As I travel across the country, the same story is told to me over and over again: the need for skilled workers upon which the Canadian economy depends. Yet the Conservative government, since it came to power, has refused to regularize the status of construction workers and has in fact deported many of them, even though there is a shortage of workers in many places.

I remember, for example, the Portuguese immigrants in Ontario, in Toronto specifically, who were deported by the government because they did not have the right papers. Yet their employers needed them to continue constructing houses in Toronto.

According to reports, at the point where the shortages are so acute, construction companies have been luring away workers from one site to another by offering them higher wage incentives.

We already know, according to Statistics Canada, that immigration is the cause of 70% of our labour market growth and if the trend continues, it will account for 100% of our growth. We also already know that all sectors in the Canadian economy rely on the immigration population. Topping the list is the manufacturing sector, which represents 57%. In that sector, 27% of the employed workforce is foreign born, while nearly one out of ten, specifically 9.4%, is a recent immigrant.

Within subsectors of manufacturing, such as clothing manufacturing, computer and electric products represents 39%, manufacturing plastics represents 33% and in rubber manufacturing, the share of employment held by immigrants is even more pronounced.

I am not inventing these numbers. I quote from the Canadian Labour and Business Centre, CLBC Handbook, “Immigration and Skills Shortages, 2004”, specifically page 13.

In the health and social services sector, immigrants account for 24% of net labour force growth.

Regardless of impressive qualifications, two major obstacles to the full participation of new Canadians in the labour market continue. First, many foreign credentials are not recognized nor valued by Canadian employers. Second, the governing boards of key trade and professional licensing boards have not been flexible in developing or ensuring there are the proper tools to access the equivalency of trained professionals within their respective disciplines from other countries.

Instead, what are these people doing? We have all heard these horror stories about doctors and engineers driving taxis in Saskatoon, for example. The accountants can probably be found sweeping the floors of big business. Instead they should be working in these businesses to the level of their own competencies. Where are some of the doctors? They are working in beauty salons as hairdressers and as estheticians. It seems as if I am exaggerating, but these are real cases that exist, and everybody knows about them.

It is ironic that while the credentials are part of the grid being used to allow access to Canada, that famous point system, these credentials also act as barriers to enter into the workforce. Therefore, what are the intentions of the government to balance the scales?

To the credit of the Ontario provincial Liberal government, under the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, passed December 2006, we see some improvement through internships, more focused language training, et cetera, all as a result of the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement signed in November 2005 by the previous Liberal federal government. We had reached a comprehensive immigration agreement with Ontario for the first time. The Liberals have also been responsible for signing an agreement, the very first of its kind, with my own province, Quebec.

With it, immigration agreements were firmly established between the federal government and each of the provinces. The planned investment of $920 million in Ontario over five years was designed to: increase the funding for services to help newcomers settle, integrate and receive language training; maximize the economic benefits of immigration and ensure that policies and programs respond to Ontario's social economic development and labour market priorities; develop the first ever Ontario provincial nominee program, which will allow Ontario to better match immigrants to its own labour market needs; and formalize the two levels of government, provincial and federal, to work together on immigration matters.

Where does the Conservative Government of Canada stand on this issue? I have heard from people in Saskatchewan, in British Columbia and in Alberta. These people who live in western Canada want to have more workers from other countries because they need the population. The Conservative government does not seem to be doing very much. Let us wait to see what the next budget will give us, but in its 2006 budget the Conservative government, in its attempt to reinvent the wheel, pledged $18 million to deal with the foreign credential dilemma, yet we have seen nothing so far. This was over a year ago. This is how poorly the new Conservative government works in serving immigrants to Canada and persons seeking Canadian citizenship.

What plans does the government have to systematically tap into the underutilization of our immigrant workforce? Instead of offering tax incentives to businesses to become more involved in training and retention of this workforce, the Conservative government continues to do short term fixes for short term gain but long term pain.

Businesses were astounded last November when the Conservative government went ahead and further expanded the foreign temporary worker's program. Even minimum wage jobs are included. According to reports at that time, and I quote the Winnipeg Free Press on November 15, 2006, the CEO of Winnipeg Airport Authority and other Canadian chamber board members, echoing each other, said that Canada “needs to build a plan that includes immigration and using under-utilized members of the workforce. We need to scour the country for people who will relocate”.

Again, I am asking the Conservative government what plans it has to systematically tap into the underutilization of our immigrant workforce. A recruitment strategy is needed for the entire country. The government has no real strategy to meet the needs of, for example, the Atlantic provinces or the west.

This is evident in the government's foreign temporary worker plan which I mentioned earlier. I checked the list. The Conservative government is offering a one year permit to businesses to bring in sales, marketing and advertising managers; retail trade managers; correspondence, publication and related clerks; loans officers; hairstylists and barbers. Surely, there are skilled and well-educated immigrants who are being ignored. Could they not be recruited?

What happens after the one year is up? Will these foreign temporary workers have to start the immigration process all over again? Businesses will no doubt have to start their recruiting process themselves. How much sense does that make? In the meantime, where are the training incentives for small and medium size businesses to train and retain people? We need a balanced approach to employment across this country and not one that would hurt one province and benefit another.

There is no end to the number of studies about the burden that will be put on the Canada pension plan by the small number of children of baby boomers who will not be able to contribute enough to ensure the longevity of the plan.

At the same time, the Conference Board of Canada study on the contribution of visible minorities released on April 4, 2004 noted that between 1992 to 2016, it is estimated that Canada's total real gross domestic product, the GDP, will increase to $794.7 billion in 1997 dollars. Visible minorities alone will account for $80.9 billion, or approximately 10% of that growth. If we attempt to extrapolate anything at all from these insights it is that new Canadians represent a consumer base worth at least $1 billion.

Several benefits will no doubt ensue that might have a positive impact within the local consumer markets, for example, housing. And yet, as I mentioned previously, the Conservative government has refused to listen to employers in the construction industry who say that the cost of housing has increased because of the ongoing shortages in this industry. Once again, what is the Conservative government doing about this?

If we pay attention at all to the 2001 census figures, they reveal that the number of household units developed between 1996 and 2001 grew by 7%. Further, almost one-third of the growth was due to an increase in households where the primary worker, that is, the person who pays most of the bills, is foreign born. In addition, over 40% of the households with immigrants who had arrived over the previous five years lived in a home owned by a family member. This shows that these people work hard and want to stay here.

We have known for a long time that Canada's baby boomers are now reaching retirement age, that our birth rate is below the replacement level at 1.2 children per family, and that young people cannot assume the costs of child care themselves and often choose not to have children at all.

This Conservative government thinks that $100 a month is enough to take care of a child. That is why it got rid of the plan devised by the Liberal government, which understood the principle of access to child care for minority linguistic communities outside Quebec, including francophone newcomers to various provinces. Is this any way to serve our citizens?

The Standing Committee on Official Languages recently heard witnesses from Yukon and Nunavut talking about the lack of services. They worry that the agreements signed under the action plan for official languages will not be renewed by this government after 2008. They are waiting for the government to offer explanations regarding the difficulties faced by the programs now in place and the measures that will be taken to ensure that services such as health are available to francophone minorities in these regions.

These linguistic minorities are not just minority communities; they continue to be, to a large extent, growing minorities in relation to the majority. These francophone minorities from across Canada want francophone immigrants to come to them. Francophones who immigrate to Canada will not go to these regions to help the minorities grow in numbers if services do not exist or are inadequate.

We have heard about the way in which the new government—as it continues to call itself despite the fact that it has been in power for more than a year—plans to serve people by remaining silent about the subject that counts most. Language is at the heart of our society. I represent a population that is mostly francophone, and in Quebec we know how not just important, but fundamental and essential an element it is. Without this language, our culture and our identity cannot be preserved. Language builds pride and self-confidence.

How does this Conservative government intend to preserve and integrate francophone minorities in this country? More specifically, how does this Conservative government plan to encourage the settlement of francophone newcomers in the provinces and territories if services in the minority language remain inaccessible, even to those who have moved from Quebec to other provinces? Is Canada really a bilingual country?

Although we are glad that the Conservatives used our action plan for official languages, which the Liberal government introduced in 2003, as the basis for a plan it unveiled in September 2006 to encourage francophone immigrants to settle in Manitoba, this government is continuing to do things in piecemeal fashion.

We are asking for a plan. I would like to believe that Canada has moved beyond the point where linguistic minorities were marginalized. We must not forget that the legislation in effect prohibited the use of French in the legal and legislative systems in the Northwest Territories in 1891 and prohibited French in Saskatchewan and Alberta when these provinces were created in 1905.

I would like to know why it is taking so long to put in place integrated services for minority language groups that want to move within Canada or come to Canada as immigrants.

I could talk all day about this issue—I know the members opposite may think so—and about how poorly this government is serving immigrants to Canada and people applying for Canadian citizenship, but I am almost out of time.

Before I conclude, I want to talk for a moment about a recent meeting of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration that I attended. The minister appeared before the committee. When a committee member asked her why $20 million had been cut from the budget to implement the Citizenship Act—the act my colleagues referred to—the minister answered that they had made choices. The Conservative government chose to focus on Bill C-14, which pertains to automatic citizenship for children adopted abroad by Canadian citizens.

This is a bill that we ourselves introduced.

I do not believe that the government has invested this $20 million in granting automatic citizenship to these children. The question is: whose interests are this government serving? In my opinion, this government is serving the interests of the majority and forgetting about immigrants and francophone minorities.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:30 p.m.

Souris—Moose Mountain Saskatchewan

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, obviously the member for Laval—Les Îles is very passionate about what she said and I appreciate that.

She talked about the Citizenship and Immigration Act not being amended or brought forward. I would like to remind her that the act was in existence during many years when the Liberals were in government, 11 years in majority, and it never came forward. It is one thing to talk about what one is going to do, but actually doing something about it is perhaps more important.

I would also like to remind the member that the point system or the human capital model was in operation under the previous government, something that was utilized by it. I am sure the member will have heard that great strides have been taken in the provincial nominee program, as well as the foreign worker program, with the potential of immigrants eventually becoming permanent residents.

With the provincial nominee program, the provinces in particular have a greater degree of flexibility and latitude in terms of meeting the demands for skilled and lesser skilled labour, as well as the demands of the economy, by actually selecting them themselves. It is something we have been taking a great stand in promulgating and moving forward. Some provinces have taken that up. Does the member not think that direction and progress is in fact the right direction and right progress? It matches the needs of the provinces to the needs of the people who are coming in.

The foreign credentials program that she speaks of involves provincial bodies, professional associations, maybe 300 or 400 of them. These have certainly been in existence. We have allocated $18 million to have a clearing house that would help people before they came to Canada. When they land here they would actually have a clearing house of at least 300 or 400 different bodies to identify the shortcomings. We have put forward $307 million to ensure that people can be upgraded and better integrated. Would she not agree that is a new vision, a new direction and a whole lot better than we saw in the last 12 to 14 years?

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:30 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am always the first to congratulate the government, whichever government, when it makes life easier for the people who come here to Canada.

As far as citizenship legislation is concerned, it is true that the Liberals have worked on it a great deal. I arrived in this House in 1997 and we worked on a new bill on citizenship. Our thoughts in the Liberal Party were that this legislation needed a complete overhaul.

However, every time—I know this from experience—we wanted to move forward, there was an election and we had to start the legislative process all over again.

If the parliamentary secretary truly thinks that this bill will move forward, then I will be the first to congratulate him. I am waiting with bated breath. I hope that his government will not trigger an election any time soon or otherwise we will be faced yet again with the possibility of having citizenship legislation that goes nowhere. That has been our experience for 13 years.

As far as the points system is concerned, the needs are changing. I have dealt with this points system with the Government of Quebec, and I have been working with the Government of Canada as well. The system has to change to meet the needs not just of each province, but of each region. We started this system, as I clearly indicated in my speech, with the Government of Quebec. It continued and ensured that Quebec could have access to a bank of francophone candidates to help the francophone majority continue its work in that province.

I would like very much—but I am not seeing this—for this system to help francophone minorities outside Quebec, whether in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, British Columbia or in the Atlantic provinces. This system has to be able to help them increase the number of immigrants and help their communities continue to preserve their language and culture.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Conservative

Rahim Jaffer Conservative Edmonton Strathcona, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise today and I know that my hon. colleague in the Liberal Party is very passionate about immigration. I would just like to ask her a very simple question.

We hear the Liberals talking about how they support immigration but we need to look at some of the things they did during their tenure in government. In the case of what has become known as the head tax, they did very little to cut the barriers for immigrants coming into this country.

I would like the member to specifically address the issue of the $975 right of permanent residence fees on new Canadians, which is something that I believe she is very familiar with. We heard from people all across the country saying that this was a huge barrier and a huge cost for new Canadians. Why, in the 13 years that they were in government, did this fee actually continue to go up and create more of a barrier for immigrants rather than go the opposite way?

I am happy, as she is aware, that in our last budget we were able to cut those landing fees in half. How can she justify that sort of barrier for immigrants?

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to hear my hon. colleague, a member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, mention this $975 fee. This reform did not pop out of a hat. It emerged from a caucus I created around 1997. With a number of my Liberal colleagues on this side of the House, we worked as members of an immigration caucus. We were busy looking, studying and making recommendations to the Minister of Immigration—a Liberal minister at the time—to get this fee that immigrants had to pay if they wanted to come to Canada reduced. So the idea was ours, and if we did not succeed in implementing it, here too it was because the axe fell and we were cut off.

This reform did not come out of thin air or fall from the sky. It emerged because we were going in that direction in the immigration caucus that I created and chaired for several years. I would like to thank the Conservative government, therefore, for doing this. It was about time. I say thanks. But I think too that the Conservative government should thank us for having the idea in the first place.

In regard to what is called the head tax, I have met many descendants of Chinese immigrants from the last century and the beginning of this century. Heaven knows how these immigrants suffered, not just because of the tax they had to pay but also because of the consequences of that tax, namely that there were unable to bring their families here to Canada. These were mostly single men who lived here for decades.

Once again, we were working on this head tax issue. I myself was deeply and very personally involved. We saw how divided the Chinese community was—not about the merits of the case because everybody agreed on that, and we did too, but about how this head tax should be paid. I would like to point out to my hon. colleague across the aisle that the head tax still has not been paid and the Chinese communities across Canada still do not agree on how the Conservative government should compensate them for this tragedy. So despite what my colleague says, their system still has not reimbursed the descendants of these Chinese immigrants.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:35 p.m.

Conservative

Brian Fitzpatrick Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal members say that they rest their case on their record. Post-September 11, the Auditor General came out with her report showing that there were 40,000 illegal refugees, people who had their claims rejected, and that the government did not even know where they were. People were arriving at Pearson Airport without any identification at all. They were just fingerprinted and released into the public.

My concern on the way the Liberals handled immigration and refugee claims at that time is that it creates a backup for 40,000 legitimate people who come through the front line. I think the Liberals have a lot to answer for in the way they mismanaged the whole immigration and refugee system when they were in power.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

The hon. member for Laval—Les Îles should know that time has run out. Nevertheless, I will give her a moment to respond.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:40 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my honourable colleague that we brought significant reforms to the system. For a number of years now, people wanting to enter Canada as tourists have had to show a return ticket, not a one-way ticket, when they check in with the airline. They must also show a passport to prove where they come from. We also placed significant restrictions on granting tourist visas—

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Royal Galipeau

Resuming debate. The hon. member for Edmonton—Strathcona.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:40 p.m.

Conservative

Rahim Jaffer Conservative Edmonton Strathcona, AB

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Mississauga—Streetsville.

The motion before the House speaks to this government's commitment to serving immigrants to Canada and persons seeking Canadian citizenship in the best interests of our country.

I am pleased to speak to this issue. Our government was elected on the promise to make government more accountable and I believe we have lived up to that promise. At the heart of accountability is that we are here to serve taxpayers and to spend their tax dollars in a way that reflects their interest, and we have delivered on that promise.

When I look at the programs run by my colleague, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, it is clear that she is working in the best interests of Canadians. Immigration is an important part of Canada's history. This country was built on immigration and immigration remains fundamental to our future. Our immigration system helps Canada succeed economically and it helps reunite families. It also helps us play a humanitarian role on the global stage by accepting refugees from around the world. These refugees are able to escape very difficult and often horrific situations and are given the opportunity to start a new life here in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, you are no stranger to my family's own experience. In the early 1970s my family came here as refugees. We escaped persecution in Uganda under the brutal regime of Idi Amin and we were very fortunate to be able to come to a country that welcomed us with open arms and gave us a brand new start. Very few countries around the world would allow a refugee family, and a refugee son in particular, to be able to sit in the federal Parliament of the country. It is very rare and we should be very proud of that fact.

Building on my family's experience, I will note that the minister recently announced that Canada will be accepting an additional 2,000 Karen refugees who have been living in horrible conditions for many years near the border or Thailand and Myanmar. This is an excellent example of how our government continues to deliver on our commitments. It also shows that we welcome newcomers to Canada and encourage them to contribute their skills to Canada's talent pool. It is clear that our government is working in the interests of all Canadians.

I want to assure the hon. member who presented this motion that the government is seeking to serve the interests of newcomers and all Canadians in our efforts to improve our immigration system. I would also like to remind the hon. member that it was his party that imposed the $975 right of permanent residence fee on new Canadians. It was our government that cut this fee to $490 in budget 2006. I am hoping that at one point we can even cut that further.

Immigration is an important aspect of the Canadian economy and I would like to direct my comments today to that issue.

Canada's birth rate, like that of many western nations, is currently declining. We need immigration in order to keep our population growing and our economy healthy. It is in our collective interests to ensure that our immigration programs serve our economic interests and are flexible to meet the demands of our labour market.

An example of how our government is addressing this labour shortage is through the work that the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is doing, in conjunction with the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, on foreign credentials. Many newcomers arrive in Canada with specialized skills they have often obtained abroad but face the challenge of not being able to use their skills. They are unable to get their foreign credentials recognized. It is a complex issue that involves over 440 regulatory bodies, provinces, territories and many other stakeholder groups.

We have committed to working with these groups to create a path which qualified foreign trained professionals can follow to understand the requirements to have their credentials assessed and recognized. The end goal is to have these newcomers practise in their chosen fields right here in Canada.

Budget 2006 set aside $18 million over two years to take the first steps toward establishing this entity and advantage Canada reaffirmed that the government will move forward on this commitment. We continue to work with the provinces and territories to establish successful provincial nominee programs that give provinces and territories the flexibility to choose permanent residents who meet their specific labour market needs.

It is clear that there are areas in this country where the economy is so strong that Canadian workers cannot be found to fill the labour market need. To respond to these pressing labour market needs, we need to turn our temporary foreign workers program into something substantial.

I would like to outline some of the recent improvements Canada's new government has made to this program in an effort to meet the needs of employers. The temporary foreign worker program is an employer based program that addresses specific temporary labour market needs. The program allows eligible foreign workers to work in Canada for an authorized period of time. Employers must demonstrate that they are unable to find suitable Canadians or permanent residents to fill the jobs and that the entry of these workers will not have a negative impact on the Canadian labour market.

Employers from all types of businesses recruit foreign workers with a wide range of skills to meet temporary labour shortages. We see these labour shortages in many sectors. There are many labour shortages in my home province of Alberta as the energy sector fuels enormous growth in the economy of that province. It is affecting almost every other industry as well, including the service industry, as I hear from many people from the industry and the business with which I used be involved before arriving at this place.

The Ministers of Citizenship and Immigration and Human Resources and Social Development have been working to make this program more responsive and easier to use for employers who need it. They do this while continuing to protect the access of Canadian workers to the labour market.

At the heart of the motion before us today is the question of service. Thanks to concerted efforts, three-quarters of the temporary foreign workers permit applications are currently processed in less than a month and one-third of them are processed within a matter of days.

Last July we announced the creation of a new temporary foreign workers unit in Calgary and Vancouver. These units give employers easier access to temporary foreign workers. Both the Calgary and Vancouver units are now fully operational.

We also created regional lists of occupations under pressure, jobs where there is clearly an identified labour shortage. These will allow employers to reduce the time and scope of advertisements of available jobs before they are eligible to apply to hire a foreign worker, which will save time and money. This is more evidence to show that the government cares about service and works to effectively respond to the needs of regions with their acute market shortages.

We created new federal-provincial working groups in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba to speed the identification of existing and emerging skills shortages and to determine the best way the foreign worker program can help to address these shortages.

In addition, new information products offer practical step by step guidance to employers interested in hiring temporary foreign workers. Again, we want to ensure that the employers are served in the most efficient manner possible.

Since May, international students who are studying in Canada can now work off campus. It is a good work experience for them and it is also an important and previously untapped source of labour for employers.

Perhaps most important, the government has recognized that it is not enough to simply bring in more immigrants and end the story there. We have committed $307 million in additional settlement funding over the next two years to help them succeed. These are funds that our partners use to deliver programs and services that help newcomers get settled in this country.

The additional funding is an initiative of this government and we understand how important immigrants are to the makeup of Canada. These initiatives will ensure that Canada has a strong competitive economy. Strengthening our economy is one of the priorities of Canada's new government. Immigration has an important role to play in keeping our economy healthy but it is only part of the solution.

I think it is clear from what I have outlined that our government is committed to working with our partners in the provinces, the territories, the communities and the private sector. Together, we are developing and implementing the strategies that will ensure Canada has the people and the skills it needs to prosper.

Canada is a great country, not just because of geography and natural resources but also because millions of people around the world see Canada as a place where, if they work hard and play by the rules, they can achieve great things.

As to some of the Liberal legacy on immigration, I would like to quote the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, “I have to admit that we didn't get it done on immigration”.

I agree with the hon. member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore. In sharp contrast, Canada's new government is getting things done for all immigrants and all Canadians.

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Garth Turner Conservative Halton, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would be interested in having the member expand a little bit on how Canada's new government is getting things done after the display we saw in question period yesterday when the Prime Minister of Canada stood up and accused one of the hon. members in the House of being involved with--

Opposition Motion--Citizenship and ImmigrationBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Brian Fitzpatrick Conservative Prince Albert, SK

No, he did not. You were not listening, Garth, because that is not what he said.