Citizenship and Immigration committee  To be honest, Mr. Chairman, we were told we were going to look at Bill C-50. I didn't bring my binder for estimates.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chairman, I understand this option was considered. One of the reasons was to provide the minister of the day with as much flexibility as possible.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, it absolutely is not. It is quite the contrary.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. My understanding is that it is not in IRPA. But that's a very clear provision of the Federal Courts Act, which provides that any administrative decision taken by the federal crown is subject to review by the Federal Court.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In fact, the minister plans to do the exact opposite of what you're suggesting. She has indicated on several occasions that she has no intention of not respecting commitments made to the provinces. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that one of the first sets of instructions will be about the priority consideration to be given to provincial accords.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It is not a clever accounting trick, but rather a policy change that the government is proposing to Parliament in order to limit the number of applications to be processed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, but also on the record of citizenship and immigration ministers, not just in this government, but in the past government as well. Since the ratification of the Canada-Quebec Accord, the federal government has always fulfilled its commitments.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes and no. I agree with your second point. One of the bill's aims is to allow the minister to select individuals using ministerial instructions. One of the aims of the proposed legislation is to address the backlog. How are we planning to do this? Once the ministerial instructions have been issued, the backlog will stop growing.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely not. One of the major changes proposed in the bill would see the Government of Canada processing only a certain number of immigration applications every year. The problem encountered most often is that we accept between 240,000 and 260,000 applications a year, but only 400,000 can be processed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In several respects, Mr. Chairman, your interpretation is correct. As the minister stated, each act is drafted differently. This act does not refer to the federal government's commitments to Quebec, but rather to its obligations towards all provinces. Over the past few decades, not only has the Government of Canada respected the terms of the Canada-Quebec Accord, it has also respected the terms of all other provincial accords.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If memory serves me well, no, it does not. However, the various annexes to the Accord deal with relations between the Quebec department and the federal department. Two committees were established to administer matters arising from the Accord every year.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We thought we would just start with questions, since we are part of the minister's package.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chairman, let me start with the second part of Mr. Bevilacqua's question. You're not only an MP, you have an “honourable” before your name, so you will know that it's not appropriate for me to comment on the government's legislative strategy. I think there is a link between their Advantage Canada commitments in the last budget, two budgets ago, and there's an economic component to this, but I simply have to decline comment on that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Usually, Mr. Chair, people living in a country where immigration services are not provided should be able to leave their documents at the Canadian embassy in their country; from there, they would be sent to the immigration section that could look after the matter. As the minister requested, could you let us have the details?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  You're quite right that Passport Canada is allowed to retain fees. Parliament set it up as a special operating agency. For any department or agency to have that happen requires legislation, which by and large, I should say, the central agencies do not favour because it would reduce the amount available for distribution as general revenue.