One last question: family reunification — there’s a two-year waiting list to start the process, and then a five-year waiting list … what’s going on?
JK: Boy, that’s a tough one. It’s the most political sensitive issue we’re facing. People are frustrated with the waiting times, I understand that. The department advises me that in the last two years, certain areas of family reunification have been accelerating by up to 40 per cent. We obviously prioritize the immediate family members. And I think we’re making some strides on that front. But, frankly, look it wasn’t our government who developed this huge waiting list. Sorry to make a partisan point, but I’m going to: in 1993, when the Liberals came to office, the total queue of all streams was about 40,000 files. When we came to office, it was more than 840,000 files. It’s tragic. I understand the frustration [sighs heavily]. If there was some magic wand we could wave to get all these applications processed in one year, believe me I’d be waving it. But there’s not, and it’s going to take time for us to turn this around. I just have to ask people to be patient in the meantime.
