Senator Omidvar: Senator Gold, yesterday we heard from Senator Simons about private sponsors being ready, willing, able, on standby and waiting for refugees to arrive. The issue is the caps on privately sponsored refugees that are put on by the government. In the last Syrian refugee crisis, the government lifted that cap.

Will the government also allow these caps to be lifted this time around? People are on standby and refugees are in need of help. It seems to be a simple, magical solution. Over to you, Senator Gold.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, pursuant to rule 12-26(2) of the Rules of the Senate, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, which deals with the expenses incurred by the committee during the Second Session of the Forty-Third Parliament.

(For text of report, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 130.)

[Translation]

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Senator Gold, I have been persistent in my questions to you about the Afghanistan file, and I have been persistently critical of the government’s handling of the situation. But I’m a fair person, and fair is fair. I was delighted to learn about the chartered flight last week and the arrival of 250 Afghan refugees. Of course, I was doubly delighted to learn that they would be resettled in Canada with the help of private sponsors.

Behind the headlines, I can see that many public servants likely worked around the clock night and day to make this happen. My commendations to them, the government and our public servants.

So you can expect what my question is: When can we expect the next flight to arrive?