39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 078
CONTENTS
Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Mario Silva (Davenport, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, last week I asked the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration about what he intended to do with regard to the issue of undocumented workers. Sadly, the response, as has been his habit, simply did not address the issue.

Let us be clear. There is a serious problem with our immigration system. The points system for assessing new immigrants to Canada is undeniably flawed. The points system clearly favours professionals who apply at a time when this country has a significant demand for tradespeople. The government actively recruits professional employees and has in place programs that facilitate a grant of citizenship to them. There is no such program for tradespeople.

Canada needs more labourers and skilled workers. Labour and management representatives, along with elected officials in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, have clearly voiced the need for more construction workers. We now know that rather than raising target levels in response to these realities, the minister has in fact cut the number of skilled workers his government will permit to enter Canada.

Indeed, rather than allowing foreign workers who want to work in the needed industries to immigrate legally to Canada, he is actually creating a situation where they are forced to come through the back door. Having come to Canada to work hard in jobs where they are so desperately needed, they are then forced to live in hiding. There are some instances outside of the protection provided by union membership where, without this union support, these workers find themselves vulnerable to such despicable practices as blackmail in the workplace and having to work in unsafe conditions.

Despite having to live and work in this way, they continue to participate in our economy. They and their families become a part of our communities. They have children who are Canadians and they raise them here in this country. Over time, they become the embodiment of the Canadian work ethic, embracing Canadian values and immersing themselves in this country's cultural life.

There are as many as 200,000 undocumented workers whom we need as workers in this country and who desperately want to become Canadian citizens. They contribute to our society and are trying to do the right thing, yet they are being forced from this country. Opponents may try to claim that these people are breaking the law. In reality, the problem in this instance is the law itself, not the people. Our immigration system needs to be fixed now.

The previous Liberal government had begun the process of fixing the immigration system. The Liberal government set reasonable immigration levels for 2005 and subsequently admitted thousands more than the set goal.

We invested significant energy in and attention to the immigration system and were willing to invest even more effort. Before the last election, the Liberal government was moving forward to make some of the important and needed changes. A plan was created to regularize undocumented workers.

Today we have a Conservative government that does not have to begin the process of change all over again. A plan is already written. The various concerns that have delayed a solution in the past are already addressed. All that remains is for the plan to begin implementation.

This issue goes beyond the usual party politics. This issue is about what kind of nation we want to be. Let us work on building a better future for these people and, as a result, for this country. We should strive for a stronger economy that will create better cities and a real sense of justice and fair play within our borders.

The Canadian Labour Congress tells us that documented and undocumented foreign worker in low-skilled occupations represent an increasing proportion of the Canadian workforce.

This June, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration passed a motion to halt the deportation of undocumented workers until a humane and logical solution is found. The minister chose to disregard this motion, so my question for the minister is simple. What can we do to help regularize these workers and overhaul the immigration system? Will the government commit to setting up a task force to work across party lines to build a better immigration system and find a solution for the issue of Canada's undocumented workers?

Mr. Ed Komarnicki (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt. This member has raised the fact that the system is flawed and needs to be fixed. The Liberals had 13 years to do something about it and failed.

Canadians see the strong and growing economy under the new Conservative government. So robust is Canada's economy that employers in some regions and for some industries are contending with labour shortages that they long ago warned the old Liberal government were coming.

Canada's new government is working to address this challenge. We passed a budget and are developing policies that end the Liberal immigrant funding freezes and neglect. We are standing up for Canada by putting Canadians to work and attracting and retaining skilled foreign workers and professionals. Canadians know that this is what a responsive immigration program does.

From the outset of his appointment, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration stated that Canada's immigration system must be geared to the needs of Canadians and to the Canadian economy. The new government increased immigration targets to their highest level in 15 years, demonstrating that Conservatives know Canada needs well educated, highly skilled people.

The minister also knows that this country was built with bricks and mortar and we need people with hard hands. Canada accepts 100,000 temporary workers a year. This summer, our government opened new temporary foreign worker units. This fall, the minister will be taking further steps to make Canada's temporary foreign worker program more responsive to labour market needs.

Temporary foreign workers get Canadian work experience. They learn our languages. They adapt to the Canadian way of life. However, under the rules the Liberals created, these workers, who have all the ingredients for success, get sent home just when they are getting settled here. As recently as this morning, the minister stated to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration that he is looking for ways to give people who take part in our legitimate temporary foreign worker program the chance to call Canada home.

Yet the member for Davenport voted against our budget and against increases for immigrant literacy and language training and programs that help them integrate into our new communities. He and his party stand opposed to our government's work to improve the temporary foreign worker program.

On January 23, Canadians showed that they knew the Liberals were ineffectual when it came to dealing with immigration and labour matters. What word other than ineffectual explains how one can be chair of a Liberal caucus committee on undocumented workers but fail to get anyone in the cabinet of the former government to listen or implement a plan?

The member for Davenport and some of his colleagues say that a regularization scheme was ready to roll out the door had it not been for the fact that the Liberals lost the confidence of Canadians last November. Neither the member for Davenport nor his colleagues explained why the Liberals did not think enough of this plan or this issue to make it part of their election platform. It was a pretty thick platform with a lot of commitments, where everything was a priority. They even included old promises that they broke for 13 years.

Still, there was no mention of undocumented workers or regularization schemes. In any event, Canadians voted for a government that reflects their values and commitment to fairness and the rule of law.

The bottom line is that any scheme that gives legal status to foreign nationals who have not been authorized to immigrate to Canada and are not participating in a legitimate worker program is unfair to those who have applied to come here legally. Any scheme that rewards with legal status foreign nationals who are working in Canada without authorization undermines the rule of law, our existing employment programs for Canadians and for foreigners, and the work of Canada's new government in building a better, more responsive, legitimate foreign worker program.

Mr. Mario Silva:
Mr. Speaker, with an answer like that, no wonder they could not get anybody elected in the three largest cities in this country.

I understand that the government either cannot or will not make a commitment here and now to truly fix the immigration system. Therefore, instead, I am asking the minister if he would be willing to set up a task force that would meet regularly to discuss the issue and include in these meetings the stakeholder groups, including union representation and community groups.

Many will say that the place for this work is the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. It is my experience that in terms of this portfolio and the ministry, the minister must be aware that the issue goes beyond just his ministry. It includes issues of justice, finance, labour and skills development, as well as many others. The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration is already busy and there are many other groups and partners that need to be brought in, including many unions who continue to work hard on this issue, municipal governments, community service organizations and so on.

If the minister has other suggestions, I am open to hearing them. Will he join me in setting up such a task force? If not, what are the alternatives? How does he see the resolution of this issue taking place? What is he planning to do to resolve the issue of undocumented workers?

Mr. Ed Komarnicki:
Mr. Speaker, this government recognizes that the member for Davenport and his party failed to do anything about the number of people who are in Canada illegally except watch their numbers grow over 13 years.

We also recognize that the former Liberal government left a backlog of over 800,000 people waiting to come here through legitimate channels. We deal every day with the former Liberal government's failure to make immigration and labour programs work for Canadians and for Canada.

Canada's new government and Canadians also recognize that the solution to these failings is not to declare an amnesty to say the rules no longer apply. Canadians and their new government respect fairness and the rule of law. Amnesty would be patently unfair to the thousands of people who seek to come to Canada every year and are prepared to follow the rules.

Instead, Canada's new Conservative government is working to find ways to address labour shortages and encourage responsible and responsive immigration. This work is well under way and many groups and stakeholders will be part of that process, but we are not prepared to embrace a stopgap measure that compromises the basic principles of the rule of law.