Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' partisan appointments are raising eyebrows among immigration lawyers and the Haitian diaspora.
The Privy Council, the Prime Minister's own department, approved the appointment of Pharès Pierre as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
This appointment already smacks of cronyism because Mr. Pierre worked in the Conservative Party executive in the Saint-Jean riding. He was also vice-president of the Quebec wing of the Conservative Party. However, it gets worse. Mr. Pierre was the cabinet leader for Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in the regime of President Aristide, who can hardly be said to have enjoyed unanimous support.
This is clearly a new attempt by the Conservatives to influence the policy for welcoming new Canadians in order to select those likely to support the government politically.
How can we believe for even one second that Mr. Pierre's political involvement will not affect his judgment as a board member? The Prime Minister has some explaining to do.