Judy Sgro

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let me speak very calmly and very clearly. These allegations are absurd and unfounded and something like what one would see in the National Enquirer . The story is a complete fabrication, word for word.

This kind of sloppy reporting is clearly a disservice to the many journalists who actually write stories and do the research. No one on my staff is or has been under any kind of investigation.

What is the headline tomorrow? Is Santa going to be an elf?

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, there are so many aspects to that question, I am not sure which one the hon. member would like me to answer.

There has been a 40% increase in applications for Canadian citizenship, which is wonderful. People are moving forward and recognizing how important it is to become citizens. A new computer system has been put into place as well. Nine months is approximately what the timeframe is now. People ought to be patient when we have a big input to come back to.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I heard about this case two weeks ago, when I read it in the media. If I could have gone over to Vietnam, picked the baby up and brought him here, believe me, I would have done it.

Vietnam will not allow children to leave the country until it has a framework specifically on international adoption. It is working on that with my colleagues in foreign affairs.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have stood in this House for, I think, three weeks now answering questions to the extent that I am able to answer them. I have asked the Ethics Commissioner to do his work, and I will await his response. I have also indicated in the House that I will share that report when I receive it.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I referred the issue in question to the Ethics Commissioner.

I would like to ask why did we bother to spend the amount of time and effort to hire an Ethics Commissioner and put a whole department in place if we have no intentions of waiting for him to respond?

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I referred the issue of this individual permit to the Ethics Commissioner and I have asked him to report back. I am very confident that I have not broken any rules. It has the appearance of it and for that it gives me concern and I have referred it to the Ethics Commissioner.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the House that there are no investigations that I am aware of, for myself or any of my staff. I stand here and will put my integrity up against any guys on the other side, anytime.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let me be quite clear. Permits are issued to foreign nationals. Permits are not issued to people who are living in this country. They are issued to foreigners.

I issued permits to over 20 countries in that period of time. Some of them were for the opposition. There were a few others. I issued eight for the Ahmadiyya community. It had a conference of almost half a million people coming up on July 2, 3 and 4. In fact, if I am not mistaken, several members over there were also there.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this circus has been going on for about four weeks now. We have heard unfounded allegations in these last four weeks. We have had staff being smeared and a whole variety of things.

Frankly, we came to Parliament, to this House of Commons, to move forward on the facts of what matters to the government. Clearly, our government and our Prime Minister are doing such a great job that all opposition members can do is to continue smearing new immigrants.

[Citizenship and Immigration, December 8th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the fact that I attended that event for the Ahmadiyya community, as I attend events for all the ethnic communities in this country. It is those ethnic communities that we care about. Clearly the opposition has only got one issue at hand and that is how it can continue to smear immigrants and vulnerable women.