House debate  Madam Speaker, I also want to thank the minister for being here tonight. This minister shows his commitment to his department by standing in this House and giving his perspective on the matter, and that is commendable. However, there are a couple of things I would debate with him.

House debate  Madam Speaker, on November 29, I rose in the House to address what I thought was a disturbing trend happening at the Immigration and Refugee Board, or IRB. The trend appears to be that there are more and more Conservative appointments being made to that body and fewer and fewer claims for refugee protection are being accepted.

Citizenship and Immigration  Mr. Speaker, Canadians are alarmed that the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism wants the sole power to say what countries are safe for refugees. Now we see that the minister wants the power to strip tens of thousands of permanent residents of their very status if he thinks conditions have improved in the countries they escaped.

Citizenship and Immigration  Mr. Speaker, today Canadians witnessed a government betray its word and table a bill to undo an all-party consensus on refugee reform. Twenty months ago, working together, we created “a reform package that is both faster and fairer than the bill as it was originally tabled”, and a “monumental achievement”.

Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, in listening to this debate, there seems to be an awful lot of contradictions. On the one hand, I hear the government advocate for financial prudence and responsibility, yet it is willing to take $1 billion worth of data and throw it in the garbage. I have heard the government talk a lot about respect for provincial jurisdictions, yet it takes an action that would prohibit the provinces from building their own database for long guns if they choose to do so.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by hundreds of residents from all over the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The petitioners are calling on the government to establish a high commission in the Republic of the Fiji Islands. They point out that there are 100,000 Canadians of Fijian descent and the lack of effective consular services in Fiji provides inordinate delay and inefficient service for tourist, visa, business and immigration issues for Canadian and Fijian citizens.

Canadian Forces Superannuation Act  Mr. Speaker, it is truly a pleasure to stand and support this fine piece of work drafted by my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore. It is a piece of legislation that every member in this chamber should be proud to support. It is the epitome of good, sound policy work that can be done by members of the House.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, after reports of a serious security breach in the defence department, Jeffrey Delisle was arrested. As a result, Conservative sources told the media that four Russian diplomats were being expelled from Canada. But the Russian ambassador is now telling the media that no one was expelled, and there is an agreement to keep this quiet.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, it was the Conservatives who fed this story to the media and claimed that Russian diplomats were being expelled. This is the biggest intelligence breach in recent Canadian history. The Russian ambassador is saying that he will make Canada look “very red-faced”. Would the government confirm whether these Russians were expelled, or was this story about the expulsions just a smokescreen to distract attention from this massive security failure?

House debate  Madam Speaker, what the New Democrats are proud to vote against are bills that the government puts forward that fail to get the job done when it comes to improving our immigration system and serving Canadians and their families. We will continue to vote against bills that fail to get the job done in that area.

House debate  Madam Speaker, recently I rose in the House following a very critical report from the Auditor General that highlighted some serious shortcomings in Canada's visa system. The Auditor General's report found what he called “disturbing weaknesses” in the way Canada's border and immigration officials issued visas.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I agree with members on the government side when they point out what appears to be an unconscionable amount of money spent in setting up the registry by the previous Liberal government. I share that concern. The 2006 Auditor General's report suggested that the entire Canadian firearms program, not just the registry, had hit $946 million by 2005.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, that is an astute question. A key moment for me in making up my mind on this issue occurred when I was talking to police officers at an annual Canadian Police Association event on the Hill. I asked officers that very question. They told me that when they go to a house at 11:30 at night and it is dark, they will assume there are guns around.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand and speak firmly against Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act, ending the long-gun registry act. For any Canadians watching, I think a fair summary of this legislation would say that it would do two things: First, it would eliminate the requirement to register non-restricted firearms or long guns; and second, it would destroy existing records of long gun registration that are currently held in the computer system accessed by police.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I agree that linking statistics to the efficacy of the long gun registry alone is very difficult, as the registry was implemented at the same time as many other changes to firearms licensing and storage, handling, transport et cetera. It is very difficult to establish a causal relationship, I grant that.