Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Thanks for being here. If I interrupt, I don't mean to be rude; I just don't have a lot of time. Mr. de Vlieger, can you concisely tell us what is the point of the minimum residency prohibition to begin with? Why do we have it in the first instance?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  What's the point of it?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. MacDonald, would you like to add anything?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Was it also to maintain a minimum standard across the country, a coherence across the country? Was that part of it?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I know; I understand.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay. I'll go back to you, Mr. de Vlieger. You mentioned that you had had some conversations. Our understanding is that only one province was consulted prior to the tabling of the legislation. I just want to be clear; is that correct?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  What is the difference between a conversation and a consultation?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think most Canadians, if they were watching this, would be thinking that if there were to be a change like this, it would have come from requests from the provinces. But the only actual consultation made, if I understand this correctly, was with the Province of Ontario, which e

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I just want to stop you there. Who brought that to your attention? Which provinces?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, one can remind one of all sorts of provisions, but other than Ontario, which is on the record as saying that it doesn't actually support this change, what other provinces did you have conversations with?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Why was there so little consultation with the provinces on a measure like this?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Many people are asking this question and are concerned about the real-life implications that a measure like this would have if taken up by the provinces. Why would the department or the government propose new powers for the provinces that they haven't actually asked for and, at l

Citizenship and Immigration committee  On a point of order, Mr. Chair, are you saying that no member of this committee could utter a provocative statement in this meeting? Do we have to define “provocative”? I mean, come on.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  On a point of order, this is very informative stuff, but I fail to see how it connects to the issue at hand. If there is some clarification I'd be all ears.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Getting back to the matter at hand. Mr. de Vlieger, has the department done a study, or does it contain data that shows that a measure like this would be a disincentive to those considering claiming refugee status in Canada?