Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): My question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. It concerns the slush fund that he's running. Minister, today we're hearing about an organization that managed to get $250,000 from your year-end slush fund. I have here a letter from Mrs. Marie Smith, president of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario, the oldest grassroots organization in Ontario. They represent over 1,000 clubs and 300,000 seniors in our province. They didn't know about your slush fund and they could have used some help. The process was not fair and was not transparent. The minister picked who got the money, on what basis we really don't know. The auditor must be called in and the minister must resign. Will the minister call in the Auditor General and will he resign? I'd like a yes or no on that, please.

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Hon. Mike Colle (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration): I just want to say again that there are many needs in this province, whether they be in volunteer groups, seniors' groups or newcomer groups. My ministry has tried to do its part, with a lot of other ministries. We've tried to invest in programs and in capacity improvement for their buildings. We've done that across Ontario. There's much more to do. That's why we're making the process even better. My ministry can at least do more of its part with a direct online application.

There are many, many more deserving groups. I agree with the member: We have to do more. We are trying to do more.

Mr. Dunlop: I'm sure President Marie Smith and the United Senior Citizens of Ontario will be pleased to print your answer in their newsletter and distribute it to the 300,000 members.

Minister, this Saturday, May 5, the editorial in the Orillia Packet and Times read, "At the very least, this brewing scandal should spell the end of Colle's time as citizenship and immigration minister. His response to the controversy has been unsatisfactory.

"Ontario taxpayers deserve better."
Minister, will you do what is right and resign your position?

Hon. Mr. Colle: Again I want to say that I have a role as minister to try to help volunteer groups. As part of that, I invest in seniors' organizations all over the province, along with other ministers. As I said, there are many organizations that need more help. We are trying to do our best.

One of my mandates is to ensure that our newcomers who are also seniors get some help. In these investments we've made, you'll see we've made investments in seniors' organizations that also reach out to many newcomers. As much as we emphasize foreign-trained individuals, there are many newcomers who are now grandparents who need support and need these services too, so we're trying to do that also.
You can't solve everybody's problems, but we're trying to meet the needs. That's why we're making the process even better, to provide even more services for seniors, whether they've been here for many generations or recently arrived.

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): New question.

Mr. Paul Ferreira (York South-Weston): My question is to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. My riding consists of many new immigrants from all over the world. They speak Somali, Arabic, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Albanian, Spanish -- virtually every language that's spoken in the world. Many of these immigrants are in desperate need of ESL programs. However, this government's ESL funding is woefully inadequate. Instead of addressing real needs, this government has chosen to dish out millions of slush-fund dollars through quickie, one-time grants without an application process.

Why did the minister dish out unsolicited money to groups with obvious Liberal Party ties when there is an urgent need for greater funding for ESL programs?

Hon. Mr. Colle: First of all, I want to say that one of the major investments we made was in the Centre for Spanish-Speaking Peoples and St. Clair West Services for Seniors in his riding. There are many needs in his riding.
But let me talk about ESL. Before I became minister, the ESL program for immigrants had no curriculum; $50 million was being invested with no curriculum, no follow-up, no occupation-specific tracking. We now have a --
Interjection.

The Speaker: The member for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke needs to come to order, please. Minister?

Hon. Mr. Colle: For 20 years, ESL was not given the attention it needed. ESL now has a curriculum, it has new benchmarks and a new emphasis on occupation-specific English because many of the foreign-trained and newcomers need higher levels of English.
We have invested in ESL. We have paid attention to it. I visited the ESL centres. Now they have the resources, the curriculum and the programs they never had before.

Mr. Ferreira: The minister sugar-coats things again. The reality is that if new immigrants can't speak English, they have great difficulty finding employment and securing a better life for themselves and their families. As we have sadly witnessed over the past two weeks in this House, this government is more interested in a smear campaign than it is in answering tough questions on its sorry record when it comes to really helping new immigrants.

An Osprey Media column describes the McGuinty government's deplorable tactics this way: "The most reprehensible and appalling brand of self-serving politics -- it is divisive, undermines the confidence of immigrants in Ontario's political system and obscures the real needs of immigrants."

Speaker, through you: When will the minister stop smearing and start investing in real ESL programs