I am preparing for the Autumn Session of Parliament in Ottawa that begins on Monday September 17 with a meeting of the Conservative National Caucus before the House of Commons reconvenes. Conservative Members of Parliament and Senators will decide our legislative priorities. There are no secrets though because Canadians elected us with a strong majority to carry out a mandate with the top priority of jobs and the performance of Canada’s economy. We will continue to maintain our low-tax plan to create jobs and economic growth – a plan that is working.
Over the summer months, I managed to meet many constituents from all corners of our large Crowfoot Riding. As your elected federal representative, I always appreciate very much hearing your opinions, constructive criticism, suggestions and support. You can be assured that I take your input seriously and bring it into the policy making debates that our Conservative government engages in with the Opposition parties.
I regularly hear about the need to be vigilant when it comes to protecting and maintaining the integrity of Canada’s immigration system. We support new Canadians who work hard and play by the rules. We even provide help in many ways so that they will be successful.
Canadians are generous people, but we have no tolerance or patience for people who don’t play by the rules and who lie or cheat our system to obtain Canadian citizenship. In contrast to the previous Liberal government, our Government will apply the full strength of Canadian law to those who have obtained citizenship fraudulently.
The Hon. Jason Kenney, Citizenship and Immigration Minister announced that the federal government is investigating nearly 11,000 individuals for citizenship or residency fraud and 3,100 people are in the process of losing their citizenship. To date, the government has removed or denied admittance to over 600 former permanent residents linked to the investigations, and have denied about 500 citizenship applications where the applicants do not meet the residence requirements. Almost 1,800 applicants linked to the investigations have abandoned their citizenship applications as word about these investigations spreads.
As I prepare to return to Ottawa, I remind everyone that the ‘politically correct’ Opposition parties will be highly critical of these efforts and they will work hard to find ‘hard luck’ cases to focus on during Question Period and try to make Canadians feel guilty. Our government will continue to work to provide for a faster, more flexible, responsive, and secure immigration system that will better meet Canada’s economic needs while continuing to uphold our humanitarian commitments.
The Citizenship fraud tip line is 1-888-242-2100 or by email at Citizenship-fraud-tips@cic.gc.ca The Border Watch Tip Line is 1-888-502-9060.
