Citizenship and Immigration committee  I've been around a long time, 12 years in fact, and I must say this. Just because they put the paper in front of you, it doesn't mean you have to read it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If you'd like to talk to me constructively, as Bill Blair has, then we could have a conversation about the cost build-up in my city of Ottawa, and the city of Toronto, in addition to what the welfare costs are for my ministry.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  To be clear, I'm not the minister responsible for immigration in France; I'm the minister responsible for immigration policy and social assistance in the province of Ontario.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The federal government has sole jurisdiction on Canada's borders, and it is your responsibility to identify and fully fund a solution to this most recent influx. What I'm doing here today is simply letting you know that it is costing my ministry about $200 million at a time when

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We look forward to sending them to you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Eight hundred people are—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thanks very much for your question. Yes, we'll do that for you. Also, I just want to thank you for holding these hearings. I think it was very enlightening for me.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're going to be sending a letter to—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  —my four or five ministerial counterparts in your government—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're using a term that was used by the federal Minister of Immigration at one point in time.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The federal Minister of Immigration used it in committee. I'm not going to get into a debate on semantics. I'm simply here, as the minister responsible for immigration policy in the Province of Ontario, to let you know that there has been a significant strain on our resources t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm just going to point out that Ontario receives more immigrants and refugees than any other province in the country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We spend more than $110 million annually to welcome, settle, and integrate immigrants and refugees. In addition to that, we spend about $320 million on social assistance.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I am the minister responsible for immigration policy in the Province of Ontario—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much, Chair. I welcome this opportunity to appear before the committee. My name is Lisa MacLeod, and I am the minister responsible for immigration policy in the new Ontario government. Our new government, like most or all Ontarians, recognizes the value and the