The Liberal Caucus in the House of Commons will not support a misguided NDP Motion that would block Parliamentary Committees from examining the immigration provisions buried in the Conservative government's Budget Bill (C-50), Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale said today.
"We believe the Conservatives are wrong when they treat newcomers who want to immigrate to Canada like commodities and not human beings," said Mr. Goodale.
"We want at least one and maybe two Standing Committees to go to work on Bill C-50. We need the committees to expose the details of how wrong-headed and arbitrary the Conservative plan is. And we need the committees to provide affected Canadians with a forum to say what they think."
The NDP amendment now before the House at Second Reading would pre-empt any and all debate and Parliamentary study of these radical changes. Liberals will vote to send Bill C-50 to the Standing Committee on Finance for detailed study. The Official Opposition will also seek authority for the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to examine the immigration component of Bill C-50.[Liberal.Ca]
Liberals were wrong to support irreversible changes to immigration system, according to NDP.
“The Liberals are big on talk and light on action. We’ve heard from immigrant communities, lawyers, and agencies that this bill is offensive and dangerous and would cause irreparable damage to Canada’s reputation abroad and our immigration system,” said NDP Immigration critic Olivia Chow.
Once implemented, the bill will give the Immigration Minister the power to set the limit on the number of applications to be processed annually. The Minister will also have the power to decide which application shall be processed quickly, put on hold, or worst, returned unprocessed.
