Madam Speaker, it is my understanding that the processing time for such applications is counted from the time the local embassies receive the transfer application rather than from the time the application is received in Canada at the Mississauga case processing centre. On that basis, it takes, on average, five years from the time the application is submitted to the time the application is transferred to a local embassy. In total, the application actually takes about 10 years for it to be processed.
The Prime Minister said during the campaign that the wait time now to bring parents and grandparents to Canada was almost four years on average. If their family lives in China, Pakistan, the Philippines, or Indian, they can expect to wait five, or six years or more. In actuality, the processing time for such applications is much longer, so it is deceptive.
I wonder if the government will actually correct the processing time so people know the true number to that. As well, for inland spousal applications, will the government commit to reducing the application time to six months for those applications so they do not have to wait for such a long time to be reunited with their family members?