Mr. Speaker, as a point of information for the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, the sign at Roxham Road says “illegal” and that is why the phrase of “illegal immigrants” is appropriate.
His point is well taken. There have been a number of people who have come across, but not at the rates we are seeing now. The alarming part of this is that originally there were a number of Haitians, for example, who were allowed to stay in the U.S. for seven years. They were rescued and were to be returned back to Haiti. That was the deal. However, they decided they did not want to go back to Haiti and wanted to come to Canada. They have flooded the borders. People from Nigeria have heard that there is a really great social system in Canada, that there are great health benefits, that everything is paid, that they will be processed. They are flooding into Canada.
Data suggests that about 11 million people are in similar circumstances in the United States and they may decide to come our way. Obviously, that would totally overwhelm us. We are already struggling to keep up. They are talking about three and four-year queues for the existing illegal immigrants and we know people who use the lawful process have to wait for two years or, in many cases, three.
It is time to take leadership and take this issue very seriously, because there is a flood that has not previously occurred.