Mr. Speaker, the federal government's lengthy immigration processing times are not new. Ottawa currently has a backlog of 50,000 applications from skilled workers in Quebec. In 2018, the backlog was 37,000 files. In 2011, it was 33,000.
That prompted the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to publish a report entitled “Cutting the queue: reducing Canada's immigration backlogs and wait times”. In 2007, it took Ottawa 63 months to process applications for skilled workers. The more things change, the more they stay the same. How will the minister make up for decades of neglect?