John McCallum

[Justice, June 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, from the employment minister claiming that Irish workers are more culturally compatible with Canada to the immigration minister who slurs newcomers by saying that they cheapen our citizenship, the government's dismal attitude to diversity is clear. Now we have an Attorney General who wants to travel back to Leave It to Beaver. He does not care about the lack of diversity on the bench.

Will the government ignore these backward views and commit to creating a judiciary that reflects our country?

[Red Tape Reduction Act, June 19th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on his speech, but given the somewhat self-satisfied tone, one would think the Conservatives had created heaven on earth in this area, when in fact, for each carefully selected example of reduced red tape, we can come up with one or two of increased red tape. I will name two quickly, both in immigration.

In terms of waiting time for citizenship, the bureaucracy is such that the waiting time has doubled to two and a half years. If anyone has the misfortune of filling out this huge residency questionnaire, it goes up years and years more.

Perhaps even more telling, Mexican officials say that Canada is the hardest country in the western world for Mexicans to come into given the enormous amount of red tape surrounding the government's visa system.

Canadian officials take away passports when other countries do not. Canadian officials, by the department's own admission, have a stack of documents they have to fill in, way worse than other countries and with questions that are totally irrelevant. It has cost the tourism industry hundreds of millions of dollars. It has damaged business and diplomatic relations with Mexico simply because the government is drowning the Mexican tourist and individual entry system in red tape.

How can the member talk about reducing red tape when he is doing exactly the opposite in a very important area of public policy?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, June 19th, 2014]

With regard to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, what is: (a) the number of all positions authorized through Labour Market Opinions, broken down by (i) region, (ii) National Occupation Code; and (b) the number of all temporary foreign workers, broken down by region and National Occupation Code, employed by (i) any government department, (ii) any government agency, (iii) any Crown Corporation?

[Employment, June 16th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the temporary foreign worker program seems to be run by three unwise ministers. They will not hear complaints about Canadians losing their jobs. They will not speak to the provinces about enforcement. Now we know they have not seen any useful labour market data.

The government decided to slash spending on labour market spending to the point where labour market opinions have become labour market guesses. How can the Conservatives defend this decision?

[World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, June 16th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, a day on which we bring attention to this very serious problem that often goes ignored.

Elder abuse can take many forms, from physical and emotional harm to financial abuse. It can be perpetrated by those closest to us, family members or trusted caregivers. Sadly, victims are often ashamed and afraid to report the abuse to the proper authorities, allowing the cycle of abuse to continue unabated. The goal of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is to bring an end to this cycle of silence and shine a light on an issue that lingers in darkness.

We all have a role in recognizing and preventing elder abuse and empowering victims to speak out and seek assistance. We must work together to recognize and celebrate the valuable role our seniors play in our communities and to ensure that they enjoy their lives free from abuse and exploitation.

[Employment, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, while perhaps not the most heinous action by the Conservatives, the cancellation of the long form census was arguably the stupidest, depriving Canadians of a true understanding of our country.

Now they are at it again, slashing spending on labour market data at a time when they used alleged labour market shortages to justify a mushrooming increase in foreign workers. Did they deliberately bury the data to hide the fact that they were hiring foreigners when Canadians were able and willing to do the work?

[Employment, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have a blacklist of five employers. Guess how many of these have actually had their licence revoked? Zero. They promised fines. Guess how many companies have been fined? Zero. They are doing nothing.

This is a really important issue about which Canadians care deeply: pervasive abuse of temporary foreign workers. Will the minister finally answer seriously and do something about it?

[Employment, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in the natural resources industry, temporary foreign workers are packed into dormitories like sardines and forced to work an unacceptable number of hours.

In the trucking industry, temporary foreign workers are drawn in by false promises of permanent residency and are then exploited. This is a very serious problem.

Why is the minister doing nothing to put a stop to these abuses?

[Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I lack the idealism of some of my NDP colleagues, so perhaps I should simply take the government at its word.

In general, members of the NDP and the Liberals, and I dare say a good chunk of the Conservatives themselves, would be skeptical at some of the more daring promises of the Conservatives when waiting times have gone up egregiously for seven years. Are they suddenly going to plummet in the one year before the election? My colleagues can believe that if they will, but I suggest it would be dangerous to indulge in such beliefs.

[Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do agree with my hon. colleague. The average processing time is now 31 months, which is two and a half years. It used to be just over one year. These are the government's own numbers.

I should add that it could add a lot more time for some individuals who have to fill out the residency questionnaire, and it is a rather arbitrary and mysterious process by which it is decided who has to fill out the questionnaire and who does not, and we do not know according to what criteria. That is another element that can impose a huge burden on individuals in terms of the time it takes.

This is a general problem across the board. We are looking at a doubling of citizenship wait times but if we look at processing time for all components of immigration, whether it is family class, parents, grandparents, children, spouses, economic immigrants, provincial nominee programs, visitors, and citizenship applicants, all have experienced dramatic, sometimes two or three times higher, processing times under the Conservative government. Perhaps departments have been starved of funds, perhaps the government does not care, perhaps it has erected new bureaucracies, we do not know all of the reasons, but across the board it is totally unacceptable. This case of doubling wait times for new citizens is terrible but it is just typical of what the government has done across the board.