Catherine Bell

[Electoral Reform, February 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, in December 2006 I introduced a motion that the House engage citizens and parliamentarians on the question of reforming our outdated, unfair electoral system and reporting to Parliament the values and principles they would like to see in a more fair system. However, the government wants to hijack the process with a closed door, contracted out process that will leave out the very people who are under-represented in the House.

Will the Minister for Democratic Reform commit today to allowing true, open citizens consultation on the issue of federal electoral reform?

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Very quickly then, Mr. Speaker, other members in the House this morning talked about family reunification. As we know, I have constituents who are married to people from other countries. In one case the husband is in Canada and is supporting the wife in another country, and she is having a hard time coming to this country. She was told on the government website that it would take only five to ten months to come here, but it has been a very lengthy process. It is taking a lot longer than that. It is taking up to three years.

If the government were to commit to putting more money into hiring staff instead of just putting money into the department, does the member think that would that help these situations? Does the member have any other mechanisms that the government might use to speed up the processes?

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, around the world, we see the changing social patterns of people. For instance, people from around the world are meeting up on the Internet. I have constituents who are in this situation. They visit abroad with no difficulty. They find a fiancé and the fiancé then wants to come to Canada to see the person she intends to marry in the person's home situation, to check the character and all those things. However, these people run into many problems when they apply for a visitor's visa. They are often turned down on the assumption that they will not return to their country of origin. Most of these people have good jobs and security in their home countries and their wages, for example, are much higher in their home country than they would be here because many of them end up driving taxis. However, that in itself is no reason to deny a visit.

People are about more than money. In many instances, these are mature people who are well established in their careers and lives. We trust them to be responsible but the government's system seems more designed for the infrequent fraud than for the average, law-abiding, tax-paying, responsible citizen.

How can the government improve the system to address the changing social patterns that we see?

[Business of Supply, February 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, residents of Vancouver Island North know that immigrants are being poorly served. Government policy is a problem, but the problems cannot be blamed on the hard-working staff of the department.

Wait times indicate that it is necessary for the department to hire more staff. People are not getting quality service. We have so many cases in our constituency offices that we have become de facto immigration offices.

For example, since June 2005, we have permanent residents who have tried register their children as permanent residents as well. To this date, the process has not been completed. Their sons and daughters have been going to school in Canada and paying foreign student fees, which are a hardship on these hard-working families. Every time they contact the immigration offices, they are told a different story, and the wait time continues.

Will the hon. parliamentary secretary's government will commit to hiring more staff to deal with the apparent backlog in citizenship and immigration?

[Petitions, February 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present petitions regarding electoral fairness. There are over 400 signatures.

People from my riding signed these petitions in support of a consultation process, an open process to consult with Canadians on the values and principles that they want to see in their electoral system and also to report those findings back to Parliament.

I thank these residents of my riding for their continued support for electoral reform.

[Business of Supply, February 20th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about how Canada is a very prosperous country and how we pride ourselves on that prosperity, yet British Columbia has the second highest number of people working for minimum wage, has seen cuts to child care programs, has people living on the streets, people living in tents, and seen a decrease in access to services for women. I want to ask my hon. colleague, where does she think these people go for these services in the face of all the cuts that are happening?

[Electoral Reform, February 19th, 2007]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is a very complex issue, but it can be simplified. When we go out to ordinary Canadians about the values they want to see in their electoral system, we can come up with something that would work for Canada, that this House could put forward, and we could explain it. It would not be that hard. We had a citizens' consultation process in British Columbia and came up with the STV system, which 57% of Canadians--

[Electoral Reform, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I was able to refer in my notes to a fabulous report that the Law Commission did about electoral reform in Canada. The Law Commission did an extensive study on the impact of the unfair, archaic voting system and made recommendations to the procedure and House affairs committee to reform our democratic system. I hope the House will pass this motion so that these recommendations now can be implemented.

[Electoral Reform, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the time limit referred to as required in the manner provided by Standing Order 114(2) is a rule of the House for the length of speeches in committees.

[Electoral Reform, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, to answer the question from the hon. member for Ottawa Centre, I know that the Conservatives have said they want to have a citizen consultation process, but as for what their process is, it is a contracted out process to their hand-picked friends. It is a closed process. They do not want, as they say, special interest groups to take over.

I have to ask, though, who are these special interest groups? Women? First nations? Ethnic minorities? These are exactly the people we need to hear from. That is why the recommendation from the 43rd report is for a consultation process that is very broad. We want to have the values and principles that Canadians want to see in an electoral system.