Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice told us that he was giving thought to the approach government lawyers should take in the case against Groupe Polygone, a key player in the sponsorship scandal. But while the minister is thinking, his lawyers are, through their silence, endorsing the extraordinary procedure the Groupe Polygone lawyers used to have journalist Daniel Leblanc subpoenaed to reveal his source.
My question is simple: does the minister approve of this manoeuvre?
[English]
Mr. Speaker, we have no intention of conducting litigation here on the floor of the House of Commons. If that member would go back to his constituents, he would find that they have some serious concerns about violent crime in this country. He would be better off spending his time worrying about the safety of his constituents here and leave the litigation to the lawyers.
[Translation]
Mr. Speaker, freedom of the press is recognized in the Charter. In the civilized countries that we like to compare ourselves to, freedom of the press includes protecting a journalist's confidential sources.
How can the Attorney General, the guardian of the Charter—and does the Minister of Justice want to live up to this title?—how can the Attorney General allow his lawyers to remain silent and indifferent in the face of an extraordinary procedure that would force Daniel Leblanc to reveal enough information that his source could be identified?
[English]
Mr. Speaker, the comments by the hon. member are ridiculous. Again, we will not be conducting litigation here on the floor of the House of Commons. However, again I invite this member, and this would be something new for his political party, to start worrying about victims and law-abiding Canadians and get behind the agenda that this Conservative government has presented to Parliament.
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Mr. Speaker, vulnerable migrants are being ripped off because the immigration system is dysfunctional.
In a pathetic attempt to address the problem, the Minister Immigration had to launch a PR campaign to combat fraud, but it does not address the real problem of unregulated immigration consultants. The minister is ignoring crimes committed by fake consultants who take advantage of innocent people wanting to make Canada their new home.
When will the government implement the immigration committee's comprehensive recommendations to control immigration consultants?
Mr. Speaker, while I appreciate the member's concern about this issue, it is an issue that, of course, the NDP will never be able to do anything about because it is a party of permanent opposition.
Having said that, I have taken into serious consideration the committee's recommendations.
When I was in India recently, I raised this matter of people being exploited by unscrupulous consultants and document vendors in parts of India and I got a commitment from the first minister of Punjab to dedicate a specific police task force to crack down on this kind of exploitation.
We intend to take further action here in Canada to improve the regulation of immigration consultants to protect newcomers to this country.
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