Jim Karygiannis

[Afghanistan, March 10th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague across the way. In 2003 I had an opportunity to visit Afghanistan. I visited the minister responsible for women's affairs. She was running a college and I spoke to the women of that college.

There were ladies in their late teens. When I asked them what the international community could do for Afghanistan, one young lady grabbed my hand and said, “Come with me”. She took me outside the school and waited for a couple of minutes. We saw a convoy of four UN vehicles, with one in the front and one in the back, with mercenaries, if we want to call them that, who were protecting one NGO. She said, “If we can get rid of all of this, open businesses, work and have stability, we will be all right”.

Could my colleague give us her thoughts on the comments by the young Afghan lady? What is the member's government doing in order to move in that direction?

[Citizenship and Immigration, February 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the government can try to duck and hide and the minister can play ostrich and stick her head in the sand, but the fact is the government has repeatedly failed new immigrants, another broken promise.

How fast a person immigrates to Canada depends on where the person lives. This is discriminatory. Beijing waiting times have increased by 41%, while process cases have decreased by 48%.

Will the government immediately rectify the problem and allocate necessary resources everywhere so that everyone is given equal opportunity to come to Canada? When will the government do it?

[Citizenship and Immigration, February 12th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, in December the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration shamefully boasted that the government was “very proud” and “was delivering” on its record of immigration. The grim reality is that under the Conservative government, people are waiting longer than ever before to enter Canada, 20% longer. We need immigrants desperately to help this country grow, but the government has no long term plan to get them here.

Why has the Conservative minister neglected to get the necessary resources from her government to look after Canada's failing immigration system?

[Ethics, January 31st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said the names of two individuals of Greek origin, namely one employee who works in Ottawa, and another who is a Conservative Party supporter in Montreal. The fact that the two are Montrealers of Greek origin does not mean there is a plot.

As a Canadian of Greek origin, I am asking for an explanation from the Prime Minister. I am asking the Prime Minister to have the decency to stand in his place and apologize to the House and all Canadians of Greek origin for this racist remark.

The fact that he has troublesome characters in this party has nothing to do with the fact that they are Greek.

[Half-Masting of Peace Tower Flag, January 29th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

I am sure that members in this House are aware of the death of Sergeant Christos Karigiannis in Afghanistan last June. Christos Karigiannis is a fifth cousin of mine who gave his life while serving our country.

I am a privy councillor and thus the flag will be half-masted upon my death. I would gladly trade this in order to have seen the flag half-masted for Sergeant Christos Karigiannis and any of his comrades.

Therefore, I am asking for unanimous consent of the House to adopt Motion No. 310, in the memory of my cousin, Christos Karigiannis, and all the other members of the armed forces who have given their lives in Afghanistan and other places of war.

[Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, December 12th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, close to a million people from around the world are on a waiting list to come to Canada. Grandparents and parents right now have a waiting time of about three to four years, depending on where they come from, and sometimes the waiting time is even closer to six years.

I am not sure if the member is aware that we also allow an individual in Canada, if he or she has absolutely no other family, to sponsor a member of his or her family or a close relative.

This idea is something that was thought about and discussed. One thing that must happen is that the provinces sign on. Some provinces may not want to sign on because it will put a strain on them.

I am saying to the member that although this is a good idea, everyone who has immigrated to Canada would want to sponsor someone, once in his or her lifetime. There are close to seven million people who were not born in Canada and all of them would want to sponsor someone.

I am just wondering if the member has thought about the numbers when she says that this will have absolutely no strain on the immigration process. People who are getting sponsored, people who are waiting, people who are in line, the number of which is now close to 250,000 people, how many people are we going to allow under this category, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000? If so, if everyone wants to sponsor someone, that would be close to seven million.

How long is it going to take them to come to Canada? I am just wondering if the member has really crunched the numbers. Has she thought it out?

[Petitions, December 12th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present a petition regarding what is happening in Iraq. Many of the petitioners who signed the petition want to develop: first, an automatic way for interventions to be imposed by Canada against foreign governments, such as Iraq, that might support persecution or fail to prevent it; second, improve measures for refugees who have suffered religious persecution; and third, develop and set as a priority mechanisms to provide resettlement assistance to members of a group identified as suffering systemic religious persecution. This would come either by written policy or by specific designated humanitarian requests.

[An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River, December 11th, 2007]

Mr. Chair, I would like to ask the Minister of Natural Resources whether AECL and the nuclear lobby have been exerting pressure on the minister to clean out the CNSC and is this act the first step for AECL to regain control over nuclear regulations and watering down international standards to meet its business needs.

[An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River, December 11th, 2007]

Ms. Keen, do you feel that AECL has been a responsible licensee. Is it resistant to being regulated?

[An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River, December 11th, 2007]

Mr. Chair, I still think that he was shutdown by the regulator.

My question is for Ms. Keen. Ms. Keen, have you ever been pressured by NRC or AECL to water down the safety standards for new and/or old reactors in Canada?