Madam Speaker, I also want to thank the minister for being here tonight. This minister shows his commitment to his department by standing in this House and giving his perspective on the matter, and that is commendable. However, there are a couple of things I would debate with him.
One, the minister responded to my claim that Canada has the lowest rate in our history of approving refugee claims by comparing us to other countries. However, that is not my point. My point is that compared to previous years of granting refugee status, right now we are at the lowest rate in the history of Canada. I notice that the minister did not respond to that.
It was also mentioned that by my numbers there were 18 appointments to the IRB who had ties to the Conservative Party. The minister said in the House that he was only aware of two people who had ties to the Conservative Party. However, our research uncovered that there were 18. The minister said that he appointed 150 people in the time he has been minister. Therefore, that is 12% of the appointments under this minister's watch who have had ties to the Conservative Party.
Peter Showler, the former chair of the IRB, has warned that the appointment process is, in his words, “secretive and political”. I would like the minister or the parliamentary secretary to respond, not to my accusation, but to the observations of Peter Showler, an independent, objective observer.