Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, the short answer is absolutely not. I requested the deputy chair to respond to the chair's report. I received that response in my office late Thursday. I read the response only late Friday night. I made no such promises that any decision would be made by Monday. I have the report of the chair and an extensive response to that report.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, rather than addressing the facts of the matter this member prefers to politically exploit this situation. I say to the member once again that I asked for the review by the chair and she has given me her report. I have asked through a lawyer of justice for the deputy chair to respond to the recommendation and the appropriateness.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, let us discuss one particular appointment then. The minister's friend, Mr. Schelew, is accused of bullying board members into making decisions which were against their best judgment. Then when an investigation is proposed he attempts to influence his accusers with information released by the minister's own department.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, there are problems with the application of the Privacy Act in the minister's own office. Yesterday the justice minister said that he could not release the details of his official's advice to the minister of immigration on the Schelew affair because: "It is not the practice of the Department of Justice to disclose publicly the advice that it gives to client departments".

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, I simply reject out of hand the inflammatory, biased and unsubstantiated allegations that the member opposite has just made. The names were released by a justice lawyer to the lawyer of the deputy chair. Advice was sought from the legal branch of the Department of Justice.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, our government has indeed made a lot of appointments with credibility, with experience and with integrity, to the point where the press secretary to the leader of the Reform Party was quoted as saying in The Toronto Star earlier this year: ``A lot of Canadians will be pleased to see this point on appointments is a promise from the election that has been kept, to make appointments on merit rather than on political connections''.

Supply  The immigration department has its own hidden agenda in its review board. On the Vancouver immigration and refugee review board a member who was appointed by the previous government has had a 38 per cent acceptance rate of those who appealed through him. In the last four years there have been only three appeals to his decisions, two of which were heard.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, in the first instance I am not prepared to accept the premise that there was a violation of the statute. Second, it is not the practice of the Department of Justice to disclose publicly the advice that it gives to client departments.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, as the justice minister knows, names are never to be released until the deposition and discovery stages of an investigation are complete. Does the justice minister not agree that the names of accusers should never be released until the accused has actually been charged?

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice was called on to give legal advice to my colleague, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. I can tell the House that the advice we gave was entirely in accordance with the law. Beyond that we are satisfied that the minister acted in accordance with the advice we gave.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, intimidation knows no bounds. I ask the justice minister again, exactly what legal advice did his department give to the minister of immigration, and why did they sanction this contravention of section 29 of the Privacy Act?

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Considering the problems the Minister of Canadian Heritage has had recently and considering these new problems of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, it would appear the Prime Minister needs to assure Canadians that these serious allegations against his ministers are unfounded.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has given a full and complete answer. It is very clear the hon. member has forgotten one of the basic principles of Canadian and British justice, that someone who has been accused has a right to know his accusers and what they say in order to make an answer to those charges.

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, it appears this minister has contravened the Privacy Act and he has also contravened the conflict of interest code. He claims now that he was advised to break the law by the justice department. We need some clarification. Canadians need clarification. Will the Prime Minister direct both the privacy commissioner and the ethics counsellor to conduct independent, full investigations into the action of this minister and make those findings public immediately?

Immigration And Refugee Board  Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the hon. member there is nothing in the allegations or in his question that justifies the course of action he mentions. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has given a complete explanation for his actions and they show there has been no illegality, contrary to the insinuation of the hon. member.