How do your candidates stand on immigration issues?

How do your candidates stand on immigration issues?

Canadian Immigration News and Views
By Berto Volpentesta

Each November the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration must table in Parliament the plan for the coming year or years as well as a report on what happened in the previous year. At the end of November the Minister did just that and now we face an election in just a few short weeks. Why combine these two events? Only to remind people that there are important questions to ask when politicians come knocking on your door (Do they really do that anymore? Will they do that this time in the middle of winter?) to be ready to ask questions that are important to you. This is your opportunity to let them know in a very concrete way (with their very jobs on the line) what issues need attention and let them know that they will be held accountable should they not deliver.

Not to turn this piece into a political debate and all the antics of the Liberal government aside, turn your mind to some serious questions. Questions that may determine how you vote and what policies will be developed in the coming government.

This year’s Annual Report to Parliament showed some very interesting things. What strikes me is that the Liberals produced a document called the Red Book wherein they affirmed their commitment to achieve 1% immigration levels. They went so far as to say that it was critical to Canada that we increase the number of immigrants who come to Canada. Without immigration they said, Canada’s workforce would not survive to 2020 (not really that far away). That was in 1993.

In the next year’s plan the Liberals have once again committed to obtaining 225,000 to 255,000. This range has been increased and the government is likely to hit this number again simply because they are so inefficient that there are enough cases in the backlog (people waiting in line) to ensure the number is met. However, by my math, 1% of 33 million is 330,000 not the number the Liberals put forward and a far cry from the propaganda that they released where they proclaimed Canada needed 500,000. Well Canada may need that many, but are we committed to getting them here?

There is also the problem of underemployment for immigrants who come to Canada as Skilled Workers. The federal government decided some years ago to select the cream of the crop. This is fundamentally a solid idea. It only makes sense that we would want the best with the best skills to come and live in Canada. However, Canada also needed a plan on how to effectively integrate these newcomers so that their skills would not be wasted. How do the candidates in your riding feel about this?

I note from the plan for 2005 that the Skilled Worker category range has actually been reduced. Of course this is off-set by the increase in the number allowed under the Provincial agreements. Clearly the federal government is shifting responsibility for selection of immigrants to the provinces perhaps in acknowledgement that the federal government is not capable of properly selecting immigrants nor capable of efficiently processing applicants. But, it is also worth noting that the overall range for all Economic Class is also reduced.

This decrease is likely a matter of the zero-sum game that they like to play with immigration numbers. This means that any loss or gain in one category means an opposite effect in another category. Here, we see a decrease in Skilled Workers and the offset is in seen in the Family Class where there is an increase in the number of parents and grandparents. The increase is the result of the directive of the Minister to allow 9,000 more parents and grandparents for 2005 and 2006.

This was one of the Minister’s positive contributions last year to help repair the cornerstone of Canada, the family. Prior to the Minister’s intervention parents and grandparents faced increasingly long waits to come to Canada. Estimates were that if the nothing changed it would take between 7 and 15 years to bring your parents to Canada. Well, the Minister fixed it for this year and next, but is there any commitment to keep parents in the Family Class and to ensure a proper amount can come into Canada? How do the candidates in your riding feel about this?

The Minister also moved to allow processing of spouses from within Canada regardless of their status in Canada. This was another move to strengthen the family. However, it is not law but only a policy, for now. How do the candidates in your riding feel about this?

But, the government giveths and the government takeths away. A spouse that does not disclose the existence of a spouse or child on an application to come to Canada is not shown any compassion. Many people, for one reason or another and often due to misinformation and misguidance, fail to include their spouse or children on their applications for Canada. Then at some time, sometimes after the person is landed and is trying to sponsor their spouse and children, their past catches up with them. Their sponsorships will be refused and worse Immigration is now acting vigorously to remove the applicant who lied in the first place even after that person has become a Landed Immigrant or even a Citizen.

These are life sentences imposed on these unfortunate misguided people. They will never be able to sponsor their loved ones as family members, they will often fail to demonstrate that there are humanitarian or compassionate circumstances and they themselves will be removed from Canada. We allow relief for others that lie to immigration officers and visa officers in the form of a two-year ban. We allow for relief of criminals in the form of rehabilitation. Yet for this, there is no relief. How do the candidates in your riding feel about this?

There are many issues to ask your local candidate about. Immigration issues may important to you and you should let your local candidates know. You should exercise your democratic rights otherwise we run the risk of only a few holding power and doing as they please without any consequence.
Have a question? Send them to Berto Volpentesta or to the editor.

Berto Volpentesta of Cannex Immigration Specialists has been a practicing consultant in Toronto since 1991 and is a Member, Director and Secretary of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants and a Member of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants. You can reach him at 416-398-8882 or 416-787-0612 or by email at berto@canneximmigration.com or visit the website at www.canneximmigration.com