Finance committee  Sorry, can you repeat that, please?

Finance committee  Can I just respond to that for a moment?

Finance committee  It really isn't about this particular individual.

Finance committee  The difference between this individual and other individuals is that this person is showing you what's in his or her heart. Most people won't do that. That's why you need an immigration selection system that removes as much discretion as possible and relies upon objective criteria.

Finance committee  Very quickly, I will just say that the more discretion that is allowed into the immigration system, the more likely there are to be examples of the ones I gave in my introductory remarks. The more we can limit the discretion and put a structure in place that is wholly objective and transparent, the less likely we are to see the kind of examples I brought out.

Finance committee  No, sir.

Finance committee  It's the policy of our immigration website that we do not give the identity of anybody who posts on a public forum. But I will tell you this: I am wholly satisfied that the person in fact is an immigration officer, because not only did the individual place that posting but 41 other postings were made.

Finance committee  This is the question that I ask myself, particularly because in my opinion everything the government desires to accomplish can be accomplished under the existing regulations. There really is no need to bring in this legislation to do what the government wants to do, so that leads me to believe there must be other motives.

Finance committee  Well, I don't think it would surprise anyone in this room if I were to say that, historically, newly arriving immigrants have been a constituency that the Liberals count on. And at the end of the day, the Liberals are going to have to stand up and vote with the government and, I believe, against the best interests of a constituency that they've been very close to for many years.

Finance committee  Yes. I'm as shocked as you are.

Finance committee  Very quickly, the subject of backlogs is complicated, and it's more complicated than meets the eye. The government gives us the impression that the backlog is a single line of 600,000 skilled worker applicants stretching as far as the eye can see. In fact the reality is very different.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I asked to appear before you today because of a story that my late grandfather told me when I was young and impressionable. He spoke of how his younger sister fled Poland just ahead of the Nazi occupation and how she managed to secure a residency permit in England, valid for one year.