Diane Finley

[Immigrant Women, December 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, apart from investing $1.3 billion in settlement funding, funding that the Liberals froze for 10 years, last May we launched the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, which will help these new Canadians find out how to get their credentials evaluated so they can upgrade their skills to our standards even before they get here. Once again, the Liberals voted against that.

[Immigrant Women, December 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the government is very pleased to have worked with the provinces and our local service providers to provide services for new Canadians to help them adjust to Canadian life. We have invested $1.3 billion to that end, over five years. I should point out that the members opposite voted against that.

[Canada-United States Tax Convention Act, November 26th, 2007]

moved that Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Canada-United States Tax Convention Act, 1984, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

[Foreign Worker Program, November 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that we have some challenges. In the west, in particular, there are significant labour shortages. We as a government have been working with industry to expedite accessibility for foreign workers to keep our labour economy moving and to keep our businesses in business.

We need to work with them and they need to work with the provinces to ensure that all labour laws are respected by all employers and all of the employees. We are working to make that happen.

[Citizenship and Immigration, November 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as a government, we care very deeply about helping real refugees. Canadians want a government and a refugee system that helps legitimate refugees.

We have been taking steps to replace some hundred vacancies that the previous Liberal government allowed to be created. We have appointed over 70 new members for the IRB. We look forward to appointing more so we can deal with the backlog the Liberals created and ensure that legitimate refugees get the help they need and deserve.

[Immigration, October 31st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 94(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, I am pleased to present, in both official languages, the 2007 annual report on immigration.

[Citizenship and Immigration, May 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows very well, I cannot comment on any specific case due to privacy reasons.

However, I can assure the member that Canada has one of the most welcoming and fair immigration systems in the world. Each case, whether it is on a refugee immigrant or on a humanitarian basis, is reviewed on its own merits and on all the facts.

[Privilege, May 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for Scarborough—Agincourt.

The hon. member accused me of instructing witnesses from my department of withholding information. This is a very serious allegation, as intimidation of witnesses is clearly inappropriate.

I submit that the member's question of privilege is not valid for two reasons. First, there is no evidence that the situation described by the hon. member constitutes a prima facie breach of privilege. At most, this is a debate about the interpretation of facts. Second, this concerns proceedings at the standing committee. Since the standing committee has not presented a report on this matter, this matter cannot be considered in the House as a valid question of privilege.

Now if I may present the factual situation, Mr. Speaker, the citizenship and immigration committee was hearing witnesses from my department during a committee meeting on May 2, 2007. During this meeting the atmosphere and manner of questioning the departmental witnesses was hostile and some of the witnesses felt intimidated.

As the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, I wrote to the chair of the committee, copying the members, following this meeting, expressing my concern over the intimidation of witnesses. I informed the chair that I had instructed the deputy minister of the department to instruct any future witnesses from the department that they should put their response in writing at a later date if they were in doubt of information that was required at the time of the questioning. I also instructed the deputy minister to indicate to future witnesses that they should not tolerate instances of inappropriate ways of questioning.

This was an attempt to ensure the well running of the committee and the well-being of my departmental officials.

Here is the $10,000 question. It is the procedural point.

Mr. Speaker, I submit that this cannot be a valid question of privilege at this time since the citizenship and immigration committee has not presented a report to the House on this mattter. Page 128 of Marleau and Montpetit states:

Speakers have consistently ruled that, except in the most extreme situations, they will only hear questions of privilege arising from committee proceedings upon presentation of a report from the committee which directly deals with the matter and not as a question of privilege raised by an individual Member.

As the citizenship and immigration committee has not reported on this matter, I submit that this is not a valid question of privilege at this time.

[Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, May 16th, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-57, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Citizenship and Immigration, May 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to announce that later today I will table legislation to help prevent vulnerable foreign workers such as strippers from being exploited or abused.

The amendments will authorize the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to instruct immigration officers to deny work permits to foreign strippers.

The previous Liberal government gave blanket exemptions to foreign strippers to work in Canada despite warnings that they were vulnerable to forced prostitution and other exploitation.

Thanks to today's amendments, the good old days of Liberal strippergate will be a thing of the past.