Following my recent iPolitics article documenting ballooning processing times for all major categories of immigration during the Conservatives’ time in office, the government responded by … blaming the Liberals.

‘We’re cleaning up the Liberals’ immigration mess’ was the illogical title of the article by Parliamentary Secretary Costas Menegakis.

Never mind that the Conservatives have been in power for eight long years.

Never mind that the numbers showing skyrocketing wait times were the government’s own numbers covering the period 2007-13, when Conservatives, not Liberals, were in power.

Never mind that what happened over those years had everything to do with Conservative actions and nothing to do with Liberals.

Never mind any of that. It’s still the fault of the Liberals, according to the government’s twisted, magical logic.

Mr. Menegakis boasts about plans to reduce wait times for family class immigrants and citizen applicants over the next year — but he is silent on the 208 per cent increase in family class wait times over the past five years of Conservative government, and equally silent on the 107 per cent increase in citizenship wait times over the same period.

Given this dismal historical record, why should Canadians believe promises of a sudden turnaround in the lead-up to the next election?

Sadly, this illogical response to legitimate criticism of the government’s own record is typical — all vitriol about a Liberal government eight years gone, and no response at all to rising wait times under the Conservative watch.

The minister of citizenship and immigration should be concerned. His government is failing by almost every metric, and he has no response to legitimate criticism of his government’s record.

John McCallum was first elected to Parliament in the 2000 election. He has served in the cabinets of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin and now serves as the Liberal critic for Citizenship & Immigration, Multiculturalism and Seniors.

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