Chris Alexander

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the number of Syrian refugees sponsored by the Government of Canada whose applications have been approved has already exceeded 200, and we are going to do more. We are asking all humanitarian organizations across the country, as well as private sponsors, mosques, churches and synagogues, to join us in showing Canada's generosity toward Syrian refugees.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, all 1,150 Syrian refugees who have received Canada's protection so far are in Canada.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this bill cuts to the absolute heart of the shortcomings of the 1977 Citizenship Act, brought in by Prime Minister Trudeau, which actually cheapened Canadian citizenship, opened it to abuse, and put to one side the whole question of allegiance and loyalty to this country.

The Liberals had 13 years to clean up this mess. They did nothing to stop citizenship of convenience. They did nothing to protect us from traitors.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the real question is how the NDP can justify defending terrorism, treason and espionage as a cornerstone of our citizenship. How can the NDP say that these people should keep their citizenship, even if they are dual citizens? We will not accept that.

Canadians have been clear in this regard, and we do not think that the few lawyers who expressed an opinion on behalf of the Canadian Bar Association speak for the lawyers of this country. Most Canadians agree that we must protect the value of Canadian citizenship and allegiance to the crown and this country.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what does NATO have to do with this debate? Our allies and partners think it is important to show allegiance to their system of law and their country.

Canadians also think that is important. That is why we have a citizenship bill that will strengthen the value of citizenship and protect us from terrorists, traitors and spies.

It is high time that the NDP realized that these people exist, that they pose a threat and that we have to take action to deal with those threats.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what is clear is that the member opposite is lost in the thicket of his own ideology. There is absolutely no new provision in this bill to deport or to strip the citizenship of Canadian citizens who have only one nationality.

It is offensive for the members opposite to be drawing a false distinction between who are naturalized Canadians and those who are Canadian born. The law applies to them equally, and we will continue to take our advice from lawyers who know the difference between a removal and a revocation, which the lawyer he mentioned clearly does not.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what is clear is that we were given a strong mandate as a government to reinforce the value of Canadian citizenship, and citizenship is based on allegiance.

Liberals had 13 years to try to sort these issues with backlogs. New Democrats have not had the chance, and if all goes well, they will never have it, but Canadians think it is absolutely legitimate for dual nationals who have committed acts of treason, of terrorism, of espionage to forfeit their Canadian citizenship.

That is a violation of—

[Main Estimates, 2014-15, June 10th, 2014]

And the last province.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I will not make any apologies for the very successful reform of our asylum system that took place under the leadership of my colleague, now the Minister of Employment and Social Development.

These decisions are made by an independent tribunal, by absolutely highly trained professionals who, under our laws, take decisions independently of elected politicians, independent of the partisan back and forth in this place. That is the way it should be.

There are several options for appeal. Once those have been exhausted, we expect those who have not had their cases upheld to depart Canada.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, that question speaks to the pitiful quality of opposition criticism and commentary throughout this debate on Bill C-24. We will stand behind a bill if the main opponent to it is the disgraced ideological former lawyer of the Khadr family.