Mr. Speaker, our government has a long and proud tradition of welcoming newcomers. Last year alone we welcomed almost one-quarter million new immigrants to this country.
Through the Balanced Refugee Reform Act introduced last year, we committed to resettle 2,500 more refugees and increased their funding by 20%. It is obvious that Canada is a generous and compassionate country, but Canadians are not naive and are not pushovers.
Yesterday our government introduced the preventing newcomers from abusing Canada's generosity bill. This tough but fair bill would give law enforcement officials the tools they need to crack down on human smugglers and ensure the safety and security of Canadians.
The Peel Tamil Community Centre released a statement yesterday congratulating our government on this bill stating, “We are pleased to see the Government taking...action to deter human smugglers”.
Cultural groups across the country are congratulating and thanking our government for introducing this important bill. Why are the opposition parties so quick to criticize what so many Canadians think is an important and necessary policy?