Lucienne Robillard

[Employment Insurance, November 7th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I do not share the opinions of my hon. colleague in the opposition.

It is very clear, where employment insurance is concerned, that we have carried out an in depth reform in order to help those people in this country who are looking for work. Looking at the results over the years, one can say that the outcome has been satisfactory, even though we would like to see a marked improvement.

It is therefore very clear that, as soon as we can do so, we will decrease contributions still further.

[Employment Insurance, November 7th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, each year since we have been in government, we have regularly, taking into consideration the overall problem of public finances, tried to reduce the employment insurance contribution, and we have indeed reduced it regularly. And it is clearly the intention of the government to look at it, each time it is financially feasible.

[Visas, November 5th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform member is well aware that the Privacy Act precludes me from providing details on the private lives of those involved in any departmental matter.

[Visas, November 5th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, following a problem in the Los Angeles office, I personally asked the deputy minister to prepare a detailed report on the situation.

The deputy minister asked an outside consultant to review the processing procedures in our Los Angeles office. We just received Mr. Bissett's report. It includes some very interesting recommendations and we intend to follow up on them.

[Immigration, November 4th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I can see that the hon. member from the Reform Party is not at all aware of the procedure for making appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board.

There is a selection committee that assesses candidates and makes recommendations on appointments to the government. In this case, in accordance with the procedure, the selection committee recommended the person be reappointed because he was qualified.

[Immigration, October 28th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, there is no study or analysis showing a direct connection between the rate of unemployment and immigration to this country. None whatsoever. And if the Reform Party has a study showing otherwise, then let us see it.

That having been said, we have consulted a number of people in this country about the new immigration levels and I am proud to report to the House that the Province of British Columbia supports the immigration level in this country.

[Immigration, October 28th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud that we can welcome even more immigrants into this country, because they are contributing to the development of our economic and social life.

It is very clear from the figures we have that we can increase the number of new arrivals into Canada next year and we are very pleased about this.

[Immigration, October 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, it is always very dangerous to pass general, blanket judgements on any given group of people. The fact that some individuals abused our system or illegally entered Canada does not entitle us to condemn the immigration system as a whole. We must be wary of creating myths regarding immigration in Canada.

This having been said, it is quite clear that we do have a plan of action to deport criminals.

[Immigration, October 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, we have completely reviewed our deportation policy here in Canada and decided to focus on criminals. To this end, we have indeed put together a plan of action. We even introduced in this House legislative amendments, which the Reform Party opposed.

This having been said, it is quite clear that the process should be improved and agreements signed with the various countries to expedite the deportation process.

[Justice, October 20th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has a policy concerning the deportation of people. The priority is definitely the deportation of criminals.

I am pleased to say that the percentage of criminals who were deported this year has gone up, in comparison to last year.

This being said, we can only deplore the tragic event that occurred in the Vancouver area.