Critics are charging the Tories with asking for a blank cheque and misleading the public when it comes to their proposed immigration reforms.
They say the Tories have given few details about the specifics of the legislation, which the government admitted for the first time on Monday would limit the number of applications Canada would receive each year.
The Tories have said the measures would fast-track some skilled workers. But when pressed for more details about the legislation by the New Democrats, Immigration Minister Diane Finley didn't provide many answers Monday.
"If you have winners, you're going to have losers. ... Who are the losers," asked New Democrat MP Olivia Chow.
Meanwhile, the Liberals accused the Tories of fudging the numbers when it comes to their immigration claims. The Tories have said they have let in a record number of new Canadians, when in fact the number of landed immigrants has declined since they took office.
The government also remained elusive about what the new immigration legislation will mean to family reunification.
Finley told The Canadian Press that "we're not committing to anything. The only thing we're committing to do is get this legislation through Parliament, so that we can get on with it and clean up with the mess the Liberals left us," she said.
She told 愛污传媒net's Mike Duffy Live that the new bill would help clear up a backlog of applicants.
"Right now --(with) the system that we have -- it's taking on average six years for a newcomer to get here. If we don't do something significantly very soon it could take 10 years," she said.
She added the new bill will allow employers to get skilled workers more quickly, but the government has not said which types of workers will be fast-tracked, or who would go the bottom of the line. There are also questions about who would determine priorities.
The opposition has called for the immigration measure to be split from the overall budget bill, which is a confidence measure.
