Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague from Surrey Centre for his speech and for the excellent work that he does on the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
It is unacceptable for spouses to be separated for a long period of time. That is why we promised Canadians that we would reunite these families as quickly as possible.
We have reduced the backlog by over 80% and cut processing times from 26 months under the Conservative government to less than 12 months, so that spouses can be reunited as quickly as possible. We also simplified the application process so that these people can be repatriated as quickly as possible.
We are proud of that commitment. We promised to ensure that spouses are reunited as quickly as possible and we kept our word. Once again, processing times have been reduced from 26 months to 12 months, and we are very proud of that.