Raymond Simard

[The Budget, May 11th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am astonished by the many groups and individuals who have contacted my office to indicate that the budget must be adopted and implemented. Groups such as the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, seniors, environmental and day care groups, parents with young children, students, and constituents as a whole are counting on this Parliament to deliver the budget.

What is at stake is funding for health care, defence and security, international assistance, support for seniors, strengthening aboriginal communities, early learning and childhood development initiatives, affordable housing, and delivering on a new deal for cities and communities.

Canadians elected this Parliament less than a year ago and expect the government to deliver on its mandate and that is exactly what we are doing.

I suggest the Leader of the Opposition put aside his personal ambitions and cut short his quaint little relationship with a party that has but one objective, to split this country apart. He should do what is best for Canada and support a budget that Canadians clearly want.

[*Question No. 126, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard it said that Canada should have acted faster to resolve this issue. I would like to point out, however, that neither the international community nor the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees considered the Vietnamese population in the Philippines to be in need of protection through resettlement.

Nevertheless, the Government of Canada recently agreed to help by creating a special family reunification policy under section 25 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for which approximately 56 Vietnamese and their family members will be eligible to apply. This represents around 200 people.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has been working very closely with members of the Vietnamese community to identify eligible family members as well as to finalize certain elements of the policy. While the policy has been finalized, there is still a lot of work to do.

We need to determine who is eligible to come to Canada and then verify the relationship with their Canadian or permanent resident sponsor. We also need to verify and ensure that the applicant is admissible on criminality, security and medical grounds. Surely this approach is the most fair, balanced and practical way to proceed.

[*Question No. 126, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for raising this important issue and for allowing me to highlight the government's strong commitment to family reunification.

As the hon. member has just indicated, Canada has agreed to accept those, among the 2,000 individuals in question, who can demonstrate they have close family ties in this country, which includes adult children, brothers, sisters, spouses, common law partners and dependent children. Parents and grandparents can already be sponsored as members of the family class, but now their applications will be expedited.

The hon. member will also know that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has worked very closely with SOSVietPhi to finalize a policy that will allow sponsored applicants to become permanent residents of Canada within the next 18 months. Potential sponsors have been asked to forward applications to sponsor their loved ones by December 31, 2005 at the latest.

Some cases may be more difficult than others to process and some applications may be completed faster, so the length of time it takes to get to Canada will vary from one case to the next. The hope is to finish processing all cases by the end of 2006.

The length of undertaking for adult children of a sponsor here in Canada has been set at three years. For everyone else, the length of undertaking is 10 years, which is the same for parents, grandparents and dependent children in some cases.

The Government of Canada believes that of the many newcomers it brings to Canada, families represent both an anchor and a source of strength for the future. They also represent the strongest possible foundation for the health and prosperity of any community or nation.

We therefore need to ensure that the family class remains a vibrant and integral component of Canada's immigration program. This is what we have done in the past and it is what we are doing now.

[*Question No. 126, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, if Questions Nos. 118, 127 and Starred Question No. 126 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[Questions on the Order Paper, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Question No. 131 will be answered today.

[Committees of the House, May 9th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We have been talking in this House about decorum and respect over the last little while and a lot of the discourse has been coming from the other side of the House. I would just like to say that I have heard the most disrespectful things I have ever heard in this House since I have been here in the last two years.

I would like the member for Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour to apologize to the minister for those absolutely unbelievable comments. I would like him to withdraw them and apologize.

[Government Response to Petitions, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 85 petitions.

[Order in Council Appointments, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, a number of order in council appointments recently made by the government.

[Certificates of Nomination, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 110(2), I am tabling two certificates of nomination, one with respect to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, and one with respect to the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat.