:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
Je vous remercie, monsieur le president et honorables députés.
Today I have the honour of placing before the committee my department's main estimates and supplementary estimates (A), both for the fiscal year 2008-09, for which I seek the committee's approval.
[Translation]
I propose to cover only some of the major items in my remarks, and address any areas of particular interest to the committee in the time allotted for questions. But before I proceed, I would like to put our commitments in the main and supplementary estimates in context.
[English]
Our government is committed to helping newcomers build a better life for themselves and their families. Our vision is to ensure that the people who have gone through so much to get here can get the jobs they need to succeed, because their success is our success.
That's why in 2006 we began investing an additional $1.4 billion over five years for settlement funding, for programs that help newcomers find jobs and get settled in their new communities.
We also made it more affordable for immigrant families to come here. We did this by cutting in half the right of permanent residence fee, saving a family of four almost $2,000.
We're lifting caps on the provincial nominee programs because we want to make it easier for provinces to bring in the people with the right skills, the right education, and the right work experience for local needs. Lifting these caps will also help us to overcome regional differences when it comes to access to skilled labour.
[Translation]
We are also allowing foreign post-secondary students to work off-campus now for the first time ever.
[English]
The interest in this change has been immediate. In 2005 there were just under 1,200 such students who worked off campus, and last year that number had exploded to more than 17,000.
Just recently, I was proud to announce a major expansion of the post-graduation work permit program. International students will no longer be required to work in an area directly related to their program of study or to obtain a job offer prior to being issued a work permit. In addition, the duration of the work permit has been extended to up to three years across the country. Previously, the program allowed international students to work for only one or two years, depending on the location.
This expansion of the program is great news for foreign students, and it's great news for Canada. Foreign students will now be able to get a work permit and then get a job. This will help to increase their independence and will give them much needed Canadian work experience. And it will give Canada an immediate source of talented Canadian-credentialled workers.
We have also kept our commitment to create a foreign credentials referrals office. This office helps would-be immigrants find out where and how to get their foreign credentials evaluated before they even get to Canada. It also provides a wealth of information about local labour markets, including current job postings and suggestions of related professions.
[Translation]
By identifying any gaps between the immigrants' credentials and Canadian standards, would-be newcomers can get to work upgrading their skills before they even get here, especially with the wide range of international partnerships that our post-secondary institutions are developing around the world. And that's good for all of us.
[English]
This information is also available to immigrants who are already here, through the website and the 320 Service Canada locations across the country. Since its launch less than a year ago, credentials.gc.ca has had over 250,000 hits, and by far the majority of those have been from overseas. So it's working.
On top of that, we've expanded pilot orientation programs started in India, China, and the Philippines by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. These programs not only help immigrants check out their credentials, but also help them know what to expect when they get here, right down to how to buy a house or which bus to take to get their social insurance number.
So, Mr. Chair, our actions have shown our commitment to newcomers and their families.
With respect to the main estimates before us, the committee will note that the total main estimates for 2008-09 are just over $1.3 billion, an increase of just over $132 million, or 11%, from the previous year. This is due primarily to additional funding approved for three key initiatives: first, continued support of the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement and additional settlement funding for other provinces, totalling just over $156 million;
[Translation]
second, enhancements to the temporary foreign worker program, totalling $5.2 million.
[English]
and finally, the establishment of and operating funds for the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, totalling $2.4 million.
[Translation]
Mr. Chairman, I realize this is earlier in the year than you normally review supplementary estimates, but, as the President of the Treasury Board recently noted, by tabling these estimates earlier, the government is taking another step to enable Parliament to review the numbers earlier in the year and ensure the timely processing of budgetary commitments.
[English]
With respect to the supplementary estimates, I'd like to draw your attention to the following items in the estimates, which reflect appropriations totalling just over $21 million.
[Translation]
First, I wish to note that the department is requesting authority for an amount of approximately $8 million to provide first-year funding to modernize the immigration system and manage the backlog. This will allow the department to implement various administrative and efficiency measures.
[English]
Second, the department is requesting authority for an amount of $7.1 million to provide first-year funding for CIC to begin planning the implementation of biometrics in the temporary visa stream.
[Translation]
Third, CIC requests authority for an amount of $3.9 million to hire and train additional officers to properly assess complex caseloads stemming from new operational requirements on CIC as a result of the implementation of Bill , dealing with security certificates.
[English]
Finally, Mr. Chair, the department requests transferring operating funds of $2.3 million from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to cover the costs of the increase in applications from foreign participants in the international youth program. Through a network of bilateral and multilateral arrangements administered by DFAIT, this program provides young Canadians with an opportunity to gain work experience in other countries, and it enables international youth to gain work experience in Canada.
These are some of the major items.
[Translation]
I understand that the committee may wish clarification or explanation of the many other items in the main and supplementary estimates I have presented. My officials and I would be happy to respond to any questions the committee may have in this regard.
[English]
My officials and I would now be happy to respond to any questions the committee may have in this regard.
Thank you.
I have to congratulate you, Madam Minister. You've picked up some friends. At the finance committee yesterday the Liberal MPs agreed with the Conservatives to fast-track Bill , and at the Liberal-dominated Senate, you got it fast-tracked again. We haven't even finished dealing with Bill C-50 here in the House of Commons, and right now, as we speak, the Senate is considering Bill C-50. It's quite amazing that you found these Liberal friends, even though they said they were against the bill. Having said that, I don't know how you managed to do it, but it's quite amazing.
The numbers don't fit. The budget in front of us says the main estimates this year are for $164,860,000 for the immigration program, which is a drop from last year of $18.9 million. In the ads you've been saying it's going to be over $100 million and it's going to deal with the backlog, etc. In your presentation you said there is $8 million for this year. I can't square that number, because what I'm noticing is that the immigration program will have to cope with a significant reduction in financial resources, a cut of 32% over two years. On top of that, I saw that in 2007 there was a decrease of another $2.6 million due to “cost efficiency savings”, so last year there were cuts already, and there are more cuts coming, cuts of 32%.
If there are fewer resources for the immigration department, that goes completely contrary to and in a different direction from what the ad seems to be saying, which is that there will be millions of dollars invested in reducing the backlog. Can you explain that?
Welcome, Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Bevilacqua. Thank you for the support for --in committee, going to the House. I know there's been a lot of rhetoric by the Liberal Party, but in the end, they have supported it. Of course, obviously Bill C-50 is the bill that will help deal not only with the backlog but with stopping it from growing.
There's no doubt, Minister, that there are a number of labour shortage needs in our country. Employers need labour and newcomers need jobs. I've had the good fortune of attending some private colleges to extend the off-campus work permit. I've learned that not only are the foreign students pleased, because they can earn some money, but the universities or the private colleges are happy, because they get the students, and the employer is happy, because he has someone to fill a job that's really not fillable in many cases.
I know there are also the temporary foreign workers, as many have said across the country as we've travelled in our hearings, who would like to somehow become permanent residents of our country.
You have mentioned some innovative things we have done, in addition to , and the funding that's been invested in terms of helping them along. Perhaps you could elaborate on what has happened with respect to foreign students. Also, what is happening with respect to the Canadian experience class, and how might that help the labour situation in our country?
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Thank you very much. Those are very good questions.
We face some real challenges in terms of getting the people here for the jobs that need to be filled and getting them here quickly. With the backlog of over 900,000, it's taking too long. This is why we have very deliberately begun tearing down the walls between the permanent stream and the temporary stream. We want to make sure we're getting people here in a timely manner to fill jobs that need to be filled. They're filling jobs in which they can be successful.
That also applies to foreign students, because let's face it, when people come here as students, they get attached to the community and they get Canadian credentials. We've made it possible, through the off-campus work program, and now the expansion of the post-graduation work permit program, for them to get Canadian experience. Canadian experience, or the lack thereof, has often been a barrier to newcomers' success in getting work in their chosen fields. A combination of these things is going to help us attract more people, get them here quickly, and get them credentialled to Canadian standards.
Having done that, having invested in them, we'd like those people to stay, which is why this summer we'll be launching the Canadian experience class, which will allow certain temporary foreign workers with Canadian experience and graduates of Canadian universities and colleges, again with Canadian experience, to apply for permanent residence without having to leave the country. They won't have to go back home, apply, and wait six years to come here. We want to take advantage of those Canadian credentials as quickly as possible and take advantage of the fact that they've already demonstrated that they can work well and succeed well in this country.
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Mr. Chair, I think it really is a problem that the officials don't have the numbers we are referring to. It really puts us at quite a disadvantage for having reasonable discussions.
The point is that there is no real content in these ads. They say, “We the Conservative Party intend to do this”—or the Conservative government—but in no way do they describe how they're going to do it.
Premium prices are being paid for these ads; I checked on this with some media. The government is paying way more than what I would pay if I went to advertise.
It seems to me that what the government is trying to do is to buy editorial support by giving out money for essentially useless ads. The Globe and Mail, in its editorial, referred to the fact that this is a waste of money, and there are other publications that would say the same.
It seems to me, Minister, that is not flying in spite of the money you are spending on it. It's not flying; it's not getting support.
Since we're talking about that, Minister, and since there is a backlog of 925,000, with 615,000 in the skilled worker category, can you tell me if you or your officials have an inventory as to who exactly is in that backlog of 615,000?
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Well, you must have been taking counsel on the point of order. But let me say that the present Prime Minister and the front bench of cabinet have used that term hundreds of times in the previous Parliament.
The other issue I have, Madam Minister, is that you missed the target for this year's landing, at 237,000, even though you bumped up the family class.
The other one is that you created a crisis in the refugee determination system. We have a record backlog. It was something that was previously fixed. We have a backlog of 45,000-plus, and it's going to hit 62,000 this year. This has all happened under your watch. The backlog before the Conservatives assumed office was under 20,000.
Minister, how do you expect us to believe you can tackle something as complicated as and what you're planning to do when your record is, first, that you missed your target, and second, that you have created a record backlog in the refugee appeal division?
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That's a very broad question to answer in just five minutes, but I'll do my best.
We're taking a three-pronged approach to overhauling, improving, and modernizing the immigration system in Canada. The first is to manage the process, manage the system itself; the second is to make some administrative changes; the third is additional resources.
We've included $109 million in additional resources, because we need more people—everyone has a certain capacity. But money isn't enough to fix a fundamentally flawed system. That's why we're looking for these legislative changes, which left committee today and are being reported back to the House: the system, when it was designed, didn't recognize that not having a limit on the number of applications that come in during a year could swamp a system that has, as any system has, a finite capacity to process those applications.
When you get more applications than you can handle each and every year and you're obliged by law to process each and every one of those applications, you're going to end up with a backlog, unless you just keep throwing more and more money at it. That's not an adequate solution. Like other modern countries in the world, we want to say that we agree to take in what we can manage and manage what we take in. That's what we're proposing to do through the legislation.
As for tackling the backlog, that's where the $109 million is going to be directed primarily, so that we can whittle it down, because by law we have to process those applications under the old rules.
And finally, we're implementing significant administrative changes, so that not only are we going to do more, but each individual—and we're going to have more individuals put on the job—will be able to do more applications each day.
So we're doing things better, smarter, faster, and more of it.
:
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Komarnicki, and Mr. Khan. When you were expressing gratitude to us, I thought perhaps you were going to thank us for eliminating your $42 billion deficit, creating three million jobs, reducing the national debt, giving Canadians a tax cut of $100 billion--the largest tax cut in Canadian history--and reinvesting in research and development.
We really got the books in order and cleaned up the mess we were left with, with the hope that areas like immigration would receive the type of investment required to bring about positive change to the lives of immigrants and to recognize the important role that immigration plays within our country.
Madam Minister, thank you so much for your presentation. I'm sure that by now you know I disagree with your views on the backlog, on consultation, on ministerial powers, and on foreign credentials. We also disagree on the issue of not meeting your target. I think you're one of the first ministers in a long time who has actually not met her target. I fail to understand why we missed an opportunity to welcome 36,000 fewer landed immigrants than in previous years, and these are concerns.
Minister, leadership really comes down to the ability to paint the future, and a great leader is one who can in fact illustrate to an individual how he or she fits into that future. On an ongoing basis....
I don't think I need to elaborate on where our differences lie. I don't question your sincerity in the sense of trying to do the best, given what you have--I have no doubts about that--but essentially, as we look at the issue of immigration from a demographic point of view and as a quality-of-life, standard-of-living issue, how is your plan going to address the fact that immigrants are not as well off as and are having a harder time than immigrants who came in the postwar period?
These are the big issues. As we welcome people, it's not good enough only to welcome people into the country; they also have to be given a fair shot at success. The numbers, as I'm sure you know, indicate otherwise. As immigration minister, what is your plan around the cabinet table? What would you say to, for example, the Minister of Finance and other individuals who are in charge of the macroeconomic environment of the country to make sure that immigrants hold a very important place in Canadian society?
Good afternoon, Minister Finley, Mr. Ganim and Mr. Fadden.
I have a very simple question to ask you. You concluded agreements to recognize diplomas obtained outside this country. I am from the Province of Quebec and am myself from an immigrant family. We experienced certain problems for several reasons, among which my father's credentials were not recognized by Canada. At the time, the Liberal government was in power. After that, we faced another problem.
We are very concerned with immigration in my region. I come from an immigrant community. We strive to recognize not only professional diplomas, but also trade diplomas held by electricians, plumbers, etc. Yet, I have to deal with unions that are against this because of requisite numbers of hours worked have not been attained. Ultimately, electricians are forced to become dishwashers. In Montreal, there are doctors who are driving taxis. This is a serious problem.
From my understanding, $200 million were transferred to Quebec but we don't know if the money got to the right destination. I'd like you to tell me what the Canadian government is doing to help immigrants that arrive and want their diplomas to be recognized, be they professional or trade diplomas. What are we doing to help them integrate into Canadian society?
:
Thank you. I will be sharing my time with Mr. Komarnicki.
Minister Finley, I would like to come back to the question I did not have enough time to finish earlier.
In Quebec, there is a serious shortage of doctors. And the population is aging. Perhaps our universities are not able to turn out a sufficient number of doctors at the pace we require. At present, there are many doctors knocking on the doors of Canadian embassies abroad. These people have skills and diplomas. They come from places like Cuba, Venezuela, France, etc.
We have made our language choices. When an immigrant arrives here, he or she is seeking one thing, a new status, a better life, more money, etc. In some cases, they have travelled more than 5,000 km to come to Canada and are willing to travel 500 more to Toronto if the prospects are more lucrative. In the last budget, you earmarked approximately $200 million for Quebec alone. Through the newspapers, we have learned that the money was not necessarily spent on immigrants.
Do you have a monitoring system that ensures that funds are truly spent on immigrants? Or is the money being used on roads and bridges? I know that this audit does not necessarily fall within your purview, but does the department have a way of making sure that money transferred to the current Quebec Liberal government or other provincial governments is truly spent on immigrants? You're dealing with immigrants like me, and I do not want to see the money being diverted from where it should be spent.