Anyway, when I asked you the question about why 50,000 fewer landed immigrants were accepted into Canada since you formed the government, the answer you gave me was an aggregate number, just for the record.
On the issue of processing time for skilled workers, you responded by giving me general numbers. And I understand it's a strategy or a tactic that you may use, but just for the record, I want to make sure people understand that the question was not answered.
I also have a follow-up question to a question that was asked of you in question period by my friend and colleague Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, from Etobicoke Centre. Basically, in Kiev in 2004, for skilled workers, the processing times were finalized within 34 months. Today in Kiev, 80% of all cases are finalized within 77 months, and this means an increase of 126% in processing times for skilled workers. That's also an issue I want to address.
But the biggest issue facing immigrants today--and I mean this sincerely, in the sense that we as a committee and we as a Parliament and we as a country need to address this--is that for far too many of them, the Canadian dream is really dying. And that's a major concern I have. I'm wondering whether we as Parliament and you as government are really taking the lives of immigrants as seriously as they should be taken. They are underemployed, it takes a longer time for them to arrive at incomes that are considered average here in Canada, and they are falling behind every single day.
If we as a country are going to go out there and advertise that this is a great land of opportunity, then we owe it to people when they come here that this dream be fulfilled. Some of the things we need, quite frankly, are better funding and better management of programs to make sure the Canadian dream is in fact fulfilled.