PACP - Intelligence Dashboard - December 5, 2023

Committee & Appearance Overview

About The Committee

Mandate

The Public Accounts Committee is Parliament’s standing audit committee, and it reviews the work of the federal government’s external auditor, the Auditor General of Canada.

When the Speaker tables a report by the Auditor General in the House of Commons, it is automatically referred to the Public Accounts Committee. The Committee selects the chapters of the report it wants to study and calls the Auditor General and senior public servants from the audited organizations to appear before it to respond to the Office of the Auditor General’s findings. The committee also reviews the federal government’s consolidated financial statements, the Public Accounts of Canada, and examines financial and/or accounting shortcomings raised by the Auditor General.

The Committee focuses on government administration, the economy and efficiency of program delivery as well as the adherence to government policies, directives and standards. The Committee seeks to hold the government to account for effective public administration and due regard for public funds.

Reports

The committee has presented thirty-three reports this session.

Report 19 focused on the Health and Safety of Agricultural Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Appearance Background

Background

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) has invited the Deputy Minister (DM) of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to appear before the committee on December 5, 2023, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for its follow up study of Report 9 – Processing Applications for Permanent Residence – Immigrations, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, of the 2023 Reports 5 to 9 of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada.

PACP requested electronic copies of the departmental action plans, which will be provided no later than 48 hours prior to the meeting.

The following official will appear to support the Deputy Minister:

• Marie-Josée Dorion, a/Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery

Environmental Scan

The report found that most people applying for permanent residence in Canada were waiting a long time for applications to be processed, and people applying to refugee programs were the most impacted.

Recommendations to IRCC focused on providing applicants clear timelines and establishing reliable service standards, addressing differential wait times to support timely processing for all applicants across all programs, improving consistency of application processing times, and implementing online application portals for refugee programs.

It is expected that questions will focus on:

• Application processing and department processing capacity
• Lessons learned from backlogs
• The steps taken to ensure a more efficient process, and whether there is data to support that a positive impact has been had on processing times
• Transition to online processing
• Current events
• Refugee and Humanitarian class under the permanent residence program

Committee Membership

John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest)

Chair of PACP

Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne)

Vice-Chair of PACP

Valerie Bradford (Kitchener South - Hespeler)

Iqra Khalid (Mississauga - Erin Mills)

John Nater (Perth - Wellington)

Jake Stewart (Miramichi - Grand Lake)

Jean Yip (Scarborough - Agincourt)

Vice-Chair of PACP

Shaun Chen (Scarborough North)

Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach)

Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West)

Brenda Shanahan (Châteauguay - Lacolle)

Relevant Departmental Correspondence is saved here.

Conservative Party Of Canada

Party Position

The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has been vocal about the need to improve the immigration application and processing system. They have asked many questions about processing delays and backlogs.

Recent Party Activity

• October 31 – Debates: criticized IRCC for violating TBS guidelines regarding service standards for permanent residency for privately sponsored refugees and government-assisted refugees (Kmiec).
• October 19 – PACP – Criticized IRCC’s use of ‘expected processing time’ as not transparently communicating the actual expected time for an application to be processed (Kmiec).
• September 21 – Debates: Criticized the government on failing to support refugees and allowing them to sleep on the streets (Poilievre).
• May 11 – Debates: Said the first step the CPC would take in fixing the immigration system is to clear the backlog (Poilievre).
• May 20, 2022 – Debates: Criticized the government’s failure to meet service standards for passport processing times (McCauley).

Pacp Members

John Williamson
(New Brunswick Southwest)

Chair of PACP

Topics Of Interest

• Energy Affordability
• Rights of Hong Kong Canadians
• Rural internet
• Economics

Kelly McCauley
(Edmonton West)

Chair of OGGO

John Nater
(Perth – Wellington)

Jake Stewart
(Miramichi - Grand Lake)

Caucus Committee Coordinator and Shadow Minister for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

New Democratic Party

Party Position

The New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) commits to removing the immigration backlog, resettling refugees, and ending programs and policies that prolong the time families spend apart.

They have been critical of the government not putting in place an independent ombudsperson to end systemic racism in IRCC.

Recent Party Activity

• October 23 – Debates: Following the AG report, criticized the government for not putting in place an independent ombudsperson to end systemic racism in IRCC. (Kwan).
• October 19 – PACP: Questioned if unrealistic processing times being posted gives false hope to people applying for immigration (Desjarlais).
• October 19 – PACP: Asked if racism could contribute to rejections or delays in applications from sub-Saharan Africa (Desjarlais).
• May 3 – Debates: Said one of the greatest problems in Canada right now is the lack of ability to ensure travel documents are in the hands of those who need them most, due to processing delays.
• May 3 – Debates: Called Canada’s immigration system “deeply broken” and criticized pending refugee applications, backlogs, and restrictions on visas.

Pacp Member

Blake Desjarlais
(Edmonton Griesbach)

Deputy Critic - Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; 2SLGBTQI+ Rights

Caucus Vice-chair

Critic - Treasury Board; Diversity and Inclusion; Youth; Sport; Post-secondary Education;

Topics Of Interest

• Foreign Affairs
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Withdrawal from the Safe Third Country Agreement and Roxham Road
• Adequate housing availability and affordability
• Permanent residence on arrival for migrant workers
• Creating an Immigration Ombudsman
• Measures for Afghanistan and Hong Kong
• Processing capacity and backlogs
• Rights, safety and precariousness of Caregivers and other migrant workers
• Extending the definition of family for reunification
• Privacy concerns and transparency
• Parents and Grandparents lottery system
• Humanitarian and compassionate refusals

Bloc Québécois

Party Position

The Bloc Québécois (BQ) prioritizes Francophone immigration to Quebec and ensuring immigration does not contribute to the decline of French in Canada.

The party has recently criticized plans to increase immigration levels and is critical of a lack of consultation with Quebec when determining federal immigration levels. They have recently been requesting that the federal government compensate the province of Quebec $460 million for their refugee intake.

Recent Party Activity

• November 28 – QP – asked the government to pay Quebec $460 million for refugee intake (Blanchet).
• November 7 – Debates: Stated that the BQ supports successful immigration, which requires having the integration capacity to support the levels of newcomers (Brunelle-Duceppe).
• October 31 - Debates – criticized that foreign students are “being stonewalled by IRCC” (Garon).
• October 19 – Debates – Criticized the government for treating refugee applications like numbers (Brunelle-Duceppe).
• May 11 – Debates: Stated that immigration alone will not fix the problem of labour shortages and too much population growth could lead to a decline in standard of living (Sinclair-Desgange).

Pacp Member

Nathalie Sinclair-Desgange
(Terrebonne, Quebec)

Vice-Chair of PACP

Critic – Public Accounts; Pandemic Programs; Economic Development Agency for the Regions

Topics Of Interest

• Quebec interests and protection of the French language
• Francophone immigration, including international students from French-speaking countries in Africa
• Suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement and irregular migration at Roxham Road
• Human rights conflicts

Liberal Party Of Canada

Party Position

The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) recently released the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan. The party recognizes existing backlogs and processing delays, and commits to continue exploring and implementing new digital solutions, adding processing resources and streamlining the way individuals apply for services.

Recent Party Activity

• October 19 – PACP: Asked for elaboration from the Auditor General on which areas at IRCC had improved processing times in 2022 (Bradford).
• October 19 – PACP: Asked if Report 9: Processing Applications for Permanent Residence, considers the impact of temporary resident files on processing times for permanent residence (Khalid).
• May 3 – Debates: Spoke to the need to improve visa processing times and improve the parents and grandparents sponsorship program and super visa program (Khalid).

Pacp Members

Jean Yip
(Scarborough – Agincourt)

Vice-Chair of PACP

Topics Of Interest

• Growing and strengthening the middle class
• Canada-China Relations
• Immigration
• Mental Health
• Student Employment
• Pension Security
• Removing Barriers to STEM

Shawn Chen
(Scarborough North)

Member of PACP

Valerie Bradford
(Kitchener South - Hespeler)

Iqra Khalid
(Mississauga - Erin Mills)

Member of ETHI

Brenda Shanahan
(Châteauguay - Lacolle)