Mr. Speaker, just a few months ago there was a delegation of Syrian Canadians from the community who were going through the hallways and talking to a lot of us. Some met with the minister. One of things they were asking for was the guiding principles and rationale, where helping people in desperate circumstances is part of Canada's proud humanitarian tradition. Canada has always played an important international role in alleviating problems and finding solutions to the plight of diaspora worldwide.
Our recent and distant Canadian history is full of generous and brave actions to resettle refugees from crisis zones worldwide, from 60,000 Vietnamese, to 20,000 Iraqis, to all kinds of special measures, to uplift more than 5,000 Kosovar refugees in 1999, the Lebanese immigration refugee wave of the seventies, and other bright examples of principles and successful policies.
The minister spoke about what he has seen, the girl and everything that he visited. The question that has been put to the government time and time again is, is Canada running any special programs for Syrian refugees?
I took the liberty of communicating with the Canadian embassy in Amman and the Canadian embassy in Beirut. After three tries, I received an answer to my question. Many of my constituents are asking if we are running any special programs for Syrian refugees. Lo and behold, surprise, I figured that the government would. The minister is going to Turkey and saying, “we are taking refugees and we are doing this”. The answer is at this time there are no, I repeat, no special programs for Syrian refugees.
If the minister would give his crocodile tears today about the girl that he met, why is he not working with his colleague, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism to make sure that there is yes, a Syrian refugee program? He can continue, but the answer will still be no. When are the Conservatives going to do something about it?