Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank the member for Surrey Centre for his advocacy on this family reunification issue.
The Conservatives left us a backlog of over 75,000 applications and forced families to remain separated from each other for over two years. With our commitment and investments in family reunification, we have reduced the backlog to under 15,000 and maintained a service standard for processing applications in under 12 months for spouses and children. While Conservatives kept families apart, our government will continue to work to reunite loved ones.