Diane Finley

[Foreign Credentials, February 20th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we have been consulting at length with the provinces and the over 600 groups, regulatory bodies and post-secondary institutions involved in constructing a foreign credentials agency that will truly help immigrants get their skills recognized so we can put their talents to use here.

When it comes to the Liberal record on immigration and helping new Canadians, let us hear what one of those members said. He said, “I think I have to admit...that we didn't get it done on immigration”. Who said that? It was the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore.

[Foreign Credentials, February 20th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the member obviously was mistaken. If he had been at committee, he might have heard. What I actually said was that we are developing the plan, a plan that the previous government promised for many years but never delivered.

We are developing the foreign credentials office. That is what we promised in budget 2006. We hope to have an announcement soon.

[Citizenship and Immigration, February 20th, 2007]

Au contraire, Mr. Speaker, it is the party opposite that froze settlement. It is the party opposite that put in a new $975 tax on immigrants.

This government put $307 million into settlement money for new Canadians, money those members voted against. We have allowed students to work off campus to help finance themselves. We are getting the job done and those members keep voting against it.

[Citizenship and Immigration, February 20th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained to members of the committee yesterday, we have identified over 450 people who are being subjected to the antiquated laws put in place by the previous Liberal government.

We have developed an immediate action plan to deal with each one of them, including a telephone hotline, and dedicated agents who are expediting those cases through the system. That is a lot more than the previous government ever did for those people.

[Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, where I live and where I travel there is often very limited access to public transit. Where I live there is no public transit. We have a choice of a taxi drive. That is it. We do not have access to airplanes as they do in Montreal.

[Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, once again, all my expenses were completely within the guidelines for ministerial expenses.

However, there is a question I would like to ask. Why are those members so concerned about those expenses, which they are comparing to the universal child care benefit, when it was their leader who said that he would take away the universal child care benefit?

[Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, February 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, going to Winnipeg to make the announcement was part of our campaign to ensure that all parents who were eligible for the universal child care benefit were aware that it had been launched and how they could apply for it.

All my expenses were perfectly within the guidelines.

[Citizenship Act, January 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the interim policy on same sex marriage has been annulled and Parliament voted on that issue. That is the law of the land and we believe it should apply equally to everyone.

[Literacy, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is the former Liberal government that owes the apologies to Canadians. The Liberals are the ones who paid groups $750 a day to program a website. They are the ones who paid $150,000 to an executive director. They are the ones who paid one group $34,000 to design a logo when we are trying to help adults read letters, not pictures.

[Homelessness, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the facts as usual are just the opposite from what the Liberals have presented.

The government cares very much about helping the homeless. That is why one of our very first actions was to spend the full amount of money and renew the amount of money that was in the budget, almost $135 million, to help those who are most unfortunate and need to find new homes because they are homeless. We also added $37 million that the previous government did not see fit to spend on the homeless.