Citizenship and Immigration committee  Excellent.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I do have a presentation. My colleague has said a number of the things that I was going to say. I presented a brief, which is going to be given to all the committee members, so I don't mind devoting the time to questions.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, I've just given an entire brief to the finance committee, so I'm perfectly satisfied to take questions.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Some of it will be repetitive.

Finance committee  Unfortunately, it's not something that can be answered in one sentence, but I would like to try to say that, if it could be done fairly and objectively, you would have a good point. But in fact, it's going to require the picking and choosing of applications somewhere in the queue and that's where it breaks down.

Finance committee  One way to clear out the backlog would be to send out instructions to not take in any skilled worker applications for a period of time--be it one, two, or three years. At the end of that period there would be no more backlog. I don't know if that's what the minister intends to do, because at this point she has not given any indication as to what those instructions will be.

Finance committee  That's a very good question. With respect to occupations, the minister now has the power to restrict certain occupations. She can say that for the time being, we don't need more accountants in Canada. Then anyone who's an accountant won't apply.

Finance committee  But we do allow that. If an employer is willing to hire that plumber from abroad, that plumber comes in immediately on a work permit.

Finance committee  You asked what's the difference, so here is the difference. Let's say an application is processed in Buffalo in under two years, but it takes five years at the immigration office in India for an application with the same qualifications. At least we're saying to that individual who has to wait five years, “It's not your fault that you have to wait five years, but at least we will assess your qualifications the same way we assess those of the person who applied at the same time you did in Buffalo.

Finance committee  That's if they have a job. I'm saying that under the current system, both of these plumbers are at least being assessed according to the same objective criteria.

Finance committee  Let me address the first part of your question, where you asked about how this legislation will affect the family class or the sponsorship of applications. The truth is we don't know at this point in time. The minister will be able to, by category of immigration, send instructions to process applications quickly, to hold some back for later, or to not consider some applications at all.

Finance committee  I'll answer you with respect to the skilled workers, professionals, and skilled tradespeople who come here to Canada and find it difficult to find their jobs in Canada. It's true, and I think we have to make a greater effort to put more pressure on professional organizations and skilled trade unions.

Finance committee  Listen, individuals have biases. You really can't deny that. If you have a system that is purely objective, it really makes very little difference whether or not the person has biases.

Finance committee  No, that's not right at all. It really has nothing to with the hiring of an attorney. Frankly—

Finance committee  People don't have to pay to hire an attorney if they want to come to Canada. That really isn't what the issue here is at all. The issue is one of giving more discretion to immigration officers to carry out the instructions of the minister. You talk about 925,000 people waiting in line.