Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, let me correct the record with respect to the Conservatives' record on the parent and grandparent program: a backlog of over 167,000 cases, a six to 18 year wait time to sponsor loved ones. They mismanaged the program so badly that it went off the rails for two years.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It will hurt the most vulnerable. I'm disappointed, but I'm not quite surprised. We have seen the track record of Conservatives, in all levels of government, targeting cuts precisely against community services that serve the most vulnerable in our society. The previous federal Conservatives, when they were in office, cut refugee health care, a practice that was deemed by the courts to be cruel and unusual treatment.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  The party opposite left the IRB without the funding necessary to deal with the volume it had. The party opposite is intent on getting away from the record that it has, but facts are stubborn things and the Conservatives cannot get away from that record. The fact is that we are reinvesting in the border, and we are reinvesting in the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, on critical, failed records, under the Harper Conservatives, Canadians only had 5,000 spaces to sponsor parents or grandparents. We have increased that to 20,000. We have 20,000 spaces now that allows Canadians and permanent residents to sponsor their parents and grandparents.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're very proud of our refugee program to settle survivors of Daesh atrocities. I am very proud of our government's record when it comes to refugees and providing asylum to the most vulnerable.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  A substantial portion of this increase, $324 million, addresses higher volumes of asylum claimants, and the need to provide practical support to provincial and municipal partners, particularly in the area of temporary housing. As this committee knows well, the world is currently experiencing a record number of people fleeing violence and persecution. With unprecedented levels of people on the move around the world, our government has taken concrete steps to ensure that we address the challenges in a responsible manner, and that we provide support to vulnerable refugees, while ensuring that the health, safety and security of Canadians is paramount and protected.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship  Live-in caregivers, who provide an invaluable service to Canadians, had to wait five to seven years under that party. We have reduced their backlog from 62,000 to 11,000. The Conservatives had a disastrous record and Canadians know that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We also invested heavily in outreach and information-sharing with our key markets, so that the clients, the foreign nationals, can see who to rely on and avoid the unauthorized consultants and those who have a bad record.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  It is about the orderly management of migration. It is about recognizing Canada's success with integration and settlement. Only a Conservative with a broken immigration record would find a problem with our sharing our best practices with the world. When it comes to making sure that we export the privately sponsored refugee program or our success with economic immigration, we will sign the agreement.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, the unfairness the member opposite speaks of is what Conservatives put Canadians through in their version of the immigration system. They left a broken system. Spouses were kept apart for years under the Conservative Party. The Conservatives want to talk about the parents and grandparents program, but they deleted that program for two years.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Mr. Speaker, this is what the Conservative Party recently said about the parent and grandparent program. The party describes this program as a “burden” on the federal government in terms of support as well as a drain on provinces.

Business of Supply  We have ensured the IRB has the necessary resources to ensure refugee claims are heard fairly and quickly so legitimate refugees can move on with their lives and those who are deemed not to need Canada's protection can be promptly removed. That is our record and I would compare that record against the Harper Conservative record any day.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship  Speaker, the chaos that the member opposite refers to is the chaos that that party put parents and grandparents through. The Conservatives deleted the program for two years. They kept people waiting five to seven years. We are the ones who cleaned up their backlog of 167,000 cases, and we have quadrupled the number of spaces available to Canadians to sponsor their loved ones.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Under the Conservatives, the Iranian nationals were waiting twice as long as other nationalities for processing—

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship  Speaker, in order to meet the generosity of Canadians, we have increased the private sponsored refugee program spaces to 18,000. That is our record. The Conservative could not do it. We are getting it done.