House of Commons Hansard #148 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was senators.
Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Mr. Speaker, that worked so well, I believe if you were to seek it you would find unanimous consent to apply the results of the votes just taken to the motion for concurrence in report stage of Bill C-10.
Criminal CodeGovernment Orders
Criminal CodeGovernment Orders
A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.
Liberal
Bryon Wilfert Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Mr. Speaker, I posed a question with regard to the closing of the consulates in Japan, Italy and Russia. At the time, I was told that there would be no difficulty and that the government would be able to respond effectively by using handbooks.
I point out to the House as an example that in Osaka, Japan, 25 million people live in the Kansai region. Japan has the second largest economy in the world. It is a major trading partner. In fact, it is our number two trading partner for direct investment as well. Yet we were going to close that consulate, in which there is a GNP greater than that of all of Canada. The government response was that it wanted to save money. This is at a time when the government is flush with dollars, yet it wanted to cut these consulates, and more will be on the chopping block.
I would point out that I put a motion forward at the foreign affairs committee to have the minister appear. He did appear, but his answer was not sufficient. I see the minister smiling over there. I would point out to him that if we are going to be global, if we are going to compete with the Americans, the Australians, and others, then we have to be a player. We cannot do it simply from the capital.
The former Japanese ambassador raised questions about this. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan opposed this, as did the Canada Japan Society.
Everyone knows about doing business. Japan is an example. We closed those two consulates in Japan on March 31. Everyone knows that we need to make friends first. Business comes second. We need to have those contacts. By closing those consulates, we unfortunately sent out a very damning statement about our interest in that part of the world. We did the same in Milan, Italy, which was a jumpoff point for our business people in eastern Europe. Suddenly it has been closed and the opportunities for us are gone.
Now we learn that 19 more may be on the chopping block, including one in Riga, Latvia. This again sends a very negative image of Canada.
The government says that when the Liberals were in power we closed consulates. I would point out that when we inherited a deficit of $42.5 billion some consulates were closed by our government. Now the Conservative government is awash in money. I respect the minister, but he should know better. He received letters indicating the problem with closing these consulates. If we really want to be competitive, if we really want to be on the cutting edge, then we should not be closing them.
The Conservative government has not been honest. It has not answered the fundamental question. What is the overall strategy of the government when it comes to our representation abroad? What is the master plan?
Apparently there is no master plan. If there is a master plan, the government should be able to produce it. It should be able to tell us why it is doing these things. It should be able to tell us its strategy. There is no strategy on that side of the House.
Those members talk about wanting to be competitive internationally, yet they are closing consulates. They want to be competitive and yet they have no strategy. The government is not helping the business community, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which says the government has no China strategy either. At the end of the day, we have a government with no direction.
This is an important issue not only for our business community but also for Canadians who are travelling abroad. Essentially, we need a clear mandate as to what the government is all about when it comes to our representations abroad.
Deepak Obhrai ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for raising this very important question. What is of course always surprising is that the Liberals seem to forget their record. They were the government for the last 13 years and their record was that they closed 31 missions. Then they re-evaluated that and they opened up 43.
The government's re-evaluation process is based on how best to represent Canada overseas, how best to make use of our resources to ensure the maximum advantage for Canadian tax dollars, and at the same time ensuring maximum advantage in our relations in the countries where our embassies are in order that they are at their utmost levels and not affected.
The hon. member has talked about Osaka right now. I want to remind him that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has recently talked to the new ambassador from Japan and is in constant touch with his counterpart in Japan. They understand the reason why these things take a normal process. There has not been any impact on the relationships between Canada and Japan or any of those countries.
He keeps asking, “But do we have a strategy? Do we have a plan? What is our plan?”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs told Parliament last week that we are doing what all governments should do: reviewing the places where we would have the most important strategic presence and we will make ongoing assessments as time goes by.
I will remind the member that, yes, the government will make an announcement when we are opening and we are closing. It will not come from the opposite side. The opposition needs to understand that it is not the government any more.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs recently told the committee, and I want to repeat it for my hon. friend here, that no decision has been made with respect to further mission consolidation and if it does over time, this government will make a decision.
Liberal
Bryon Wilfert Liberal Richmond Hill, ON
Mr. Speaker, the member has not answered the question, which is: What is the overall strategy of this government when it comes to representations abroad?
I am talking about closing missions. When we had a $42.5 billion deficit, some were closed. But now we have 4 closed and 19 more on the chopping block.
The parliamentary secretary talks about the Japanese ambassador. The former ambassador of Japan to Canada, Ambassador Numata, said:
But I'm afraid that the closure of these offices will not really be helpful...I keep going back to this point about perception. It sends the wrong signal. I'm sure it's not the intent of the Canadian government, but in this world you have to be concerned about perception.
So, clearly, maybe the government does not care about perception. Maybe it does not care about whether our business people compete with the Americans, the Australians and others. But the reality is, if we are going to close, and the minister was asked a point blank question, “What is the strategy, the overall policy, going to be?” The answer is--
The Acting Speaker Royal Galipeau
The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Conservative
Deepak Obhrai Conservative Calgary East, AB
Mr. Speaker, I do not know where he is getting this number of 19 that we are going to close. I have just told him that should this happen, the Government of Canada will make an announcement.
As to the strategy, what strategy? The strategy is that it is an ongoing process to ensure that the best services are provided in the most effective manner making use of Canadian tax dollars to ensure that Canada's presence overseas is as robust as possible. Priorities change and with that things change.
I want to remind the member again, once more, we will make an announcement should it happen. As the minister said, there has been no decision made with any further mission consolidation.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this adjournment debate and to express my concerns regarding the problem of delays in processing passports. Canadians must now wait months, sometimes even more than three months, before receiving their travel documents because of the lack of action by the Conservative government.
On February 13, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told the House of Commons that 500 new employees had been hired by Passport Canada to deal with the backlog at passport offices. But on April 23— more than two months later—he stated that he hoped “to have them all on stream very soon”.
The minister's statement clearly indicated that absolutely nothing had been done. On May 3, the minister admitted that the employees were still in training. We must take action now to provide service to our citizens. Thousands of Canadians, if not millions, have waited months and months to obtain a passport and continue to line up for days on end to submit their applications.
The number of applications continues to grow. In December 2006, Passport Canada had already received 31% more applications than the year before. In addition, Passport Canada's toll-free line is rarely available because of this increase. Normally, the telephone information system can manage 25,000 calls per week, but the agency is currently receiving 140,000 calls. Demand for passports is increasing because of the new American policy that requires Canadians to show a passport to enter the United States.
We have known this new law would be implemented since April 2005. At the time, the Liberal government put in place an awareness-raising strategy through the Department of Foreign Affairs. Obviously, the Conservatives dropped the ball when they took power. They waited until April 2007 to train new employees to try to fix the situation. They even left it up to the provincial governments to negotiate with Washington. In February 2007, the premiers of New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba went to Washington to convince American authorities to relax their new rules requiring Canadians to show a passport to enter the United States by land or water.
The premiers are suggesting that an improved driver's licence could be used instead of a Canadian passport. While I fully support the measures taken by the provincial governments, I continue to wonder why they had to take action in this matter, which is clearly a federal jurisdiction. The Conservative government lacks leadership and refuses to take action in this matter, leaving the problem with the provinces, individuals, and citizens of the country.
Today we clearly need to know. Will the minister responsible for Passport Canada admit that the problem, and resulting delays in receiving one's passport, is solely and directly his fault? It is clear that the minister has not done his job. For a number of months—let us say 16 months—he has been aware of the problem. We are still waiting for the minister to take clear action for the Canadian public, but we have a government that wants to do absolutely nothing to help the public and just contradicts itself from one month to the next. Will the minister agree today to take full responsibility for the problem of delays at Passport Canada?
Deepak Obhrai ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to discuss the topic of Passport Canada with the member for Madawaska—Restigouche this evening.
Passport Canada's volume has reached levels never seen before, as the organization issued a record-breaking 3.6 million passports in the last fiscal year, some 500,000 more than the previous record-breaking year.
Due to the new U.S. requirements for air travel to the United States, Passport Canada continues to experience a sharp volume increase in passport applications.
Since November, Passport Canada has processed over 1.8 million passport applications and is making every possible effort to cope with an incredibly heavy workload. For that reason, since the fall, Passport Canada has hired 500 new clerks and passport officers. Hiring will continue until passports can be issued within the prescribed service standards.
New passport officers currently need to go through a stringent 12 week training program to ensure that the security and integrity of the Canadian passport is not jeopardized. Under no circumstances will Passport Canada allow untrained personnel to take on tasks associated with the production of such a highly secure document.
Of the 500 clerks and passport officers that were hired, 376 are clerks and 124 are passport officers. Of these 124 passport officers, 110 have already been deployed across the country. This leaves only 14 passport officers in training. Clerks, meanwhile, are trained on the job and immediately deployed.
Passport Canada's infrastructure was designed in the 1990s to produce 13,000 passports per day. However, measures implemented in anticipation of the western hemisphere travel initiative, including the hiring of the 500 new employees, has raised production to 20,000 passports per day.
Passport Canada is now able to cope with the demand and is addressing its backlog. Should demand continue at current levels, Passport Canada forecasts that most of its service channels will be back to normal this summer.
Passport Canada is continuously looking at ways to improve security and client services, while prudently managing its funds in order to ensure an accessible, reliable, flexible and efficient service at a reasonable cost.
My government welcomes a dialogue with MPs to resolve this matter.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Mr. Speaker, judging by what the parliamentary secretary said, the current situation is clear. The government and the minister have completely failed to fulfill their obligation to ensure that Canadian citizens can obtain new passports within a reasonable period of time.
Excuses about how volume has increased or this, that or the other thing happened are no good. This government was elected 16 months ago. It was aware of the situation, but did nothing. Judging by what the government has said today, it is clear that it does not want to do anything. Before now, it took 21 days to get a passport. Now, it takes more than three months. The fact that it now takes over three months to get a passport means that the government and the minister have failed. This is unacceptable.
Conservative
Deepak Obhrai Conservative Calgary East, AB
Mr. Speaker, as I have stated, we have hired 500 new officers. We will continue hiring officers to ensure that we fall within the prescribed service time limit. Due to this unprecedented demand, we have naturally seen a huge demand for Canadian passports.
At this time, Passport Canada has also launched our initiatives, including policies and programs in facilitating the passport application process while maintaining stringent security standards, automating our processing system, expanding the receiving agent network, and looking at other innovative solutions such as launching a travelling service to accommodate rural communities. We are doing everything possible to ensure Canadians receive the service they are looking for.
The Acting Speaker Royal Galipeau
The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.
The House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 7:23 p.m.)
