ON FAMILY CLASS IMMIGRATION: Liberals decry Kenney’s ‘doublespeak’
ON FAMILY CLASS IMMIGRATION: Liberals decry Kenney’s ‘doublespeak’
OTTAWA–Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is spending a lot of time talking about how they are raising the family class immigration targets for next year, but the real story is that there has been a steady decline in visas actually issued since (2006) Liberals charged today.
“Yesterday Jason Kenney tried to hide behind public target ranges released last October for 2011 family class visas, but failed to explain more recent internal targets from January that drastically reduce family class immigration even further than last year’s 5-year low or the fact that his own public documents show falling family class visas every year since 2006,” said Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic Justin Trudeau.”
“The number of visas actually going to parents and grandparents last year were the lowest of the last five years, and they’re going to fall again in the year ahead. I can understand why he would not want to reveal what’s really going on, but Canadians expect nothing less than the truth, especially those hoping to reunite their families from countries where the wait times remain unconscionably long.”
Since 2006 the number of family class visas has fallen in every year and new targets set in January released under the Access to Information Act show that family class visas are likely to fall by another 12% next year. More startling is that these targets would slash visas for parents and grandparents by 27% next year from 2010 levels and 35% from 2009 levels. The numbers from Mr. Kenney’s own department are clear and are noted in the from Citizenship and Immigration information below. The January targets released under the Access to Information Act show further drastic reductions for both family class visas overall and parent and grandparent visas specifically.
“The Liberal Party of Canada is committed to a balanced approach with immigration, but it primarily needs to address the dramatic labour shortage Canada is facing in the next decade,” said Liberal Multiculturalism Critic Rob Oliphant. “Family reunification isn’t about being nice. It is one of the competitive advantages we have that helps us attract the best and the brightest from around the world.
“The parents and grandparents who can reunite with their families here add to the economic and social fabric of Canada and will help us remain a leader in the global economy. This is just too important an issue for the Minister to be playing with numbers, or worse, to be playing one community off against another. There is a five year decline in the real number of parents and grandparents granted visas to reunite with their families here and that is both a social and an economic problem for Canada.”
(PRESS RELEASE)
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