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Editorial: Immigration overhaul much needed for Canada
Many a time when our governments want to do something, it’s not what they want to do but how they do it that leads to controversy. In the area of immigration reform, successive Canadian governments have rarely avoided fire with their attempts to fix what they perceive to be problems with the system.
It’s the same this time around with the Conservatives. In our last issue, we reported on the bouquets and brickbats hurled at the Conservatives for their proposed changes to Canada’s immigration laws.
Critics charged that the Stephen Harper government was being devious by trying to slip the changes through in a 136-page budget bill; that the changes would close the door on the neediest trying to get into Canada; and, that the immigration minister will be vested with too much power.
The government and its supporters contend that the changes will address some 900,000 people waiting around the world to get their visa applications processed and help Canada pick the best in the queue to fill the nation’s need.
While we agree that this plan has its merits, it is hard to understand the rationale for including the changes in a budget bill.By doing this, the otherwise logical plan of action to overhaul the immigration intake is taking needless fire and its agenda is being questioned. These changes are so important that they need their own court of public opinion and should be framed in a separate bill.
In addition, the proposed changes also give unnecessary and draconian powers to the immigration minister who will become the ultimate judge of appeals by those rejected. He or she will also have the power to override decisions relating to successful applicants. This vesting of powers has the potential of being harmful even in the most democratic and transparent of countries.
That’s the how they are doing it part. As for the what they are doing part, the proposed changes make sense because they will reestablish some order and priority in the immigration queue.
Our Liberal-era immigration system is not allowing Canada to harvest what it needs from the global talent pool to make this country stronger. It has been good for the Liberals, who were more interested in wooing the ethnic vote, and it has been good for families, which were allowed to bring in grandpa, grandma and an assortment of non-economic kin under reunification programs.
But it has not been all that good for Canada. While the queue to enter Canada was getting longer and longer, many with the skills that could help develop our nation left the line-up for other countries.
In addition, tens of thousands of immigrants, who were never expected to be net-contributors, were simply being given visas to join family already here. We are not saying that family reunification programs need to be stopped. But Canada has to realize that we need more “net-contributer” immigrants than “net-consumer” immigrants.
This new bill would allow officers to fast-track applications to meet shifting labour demands.
Doctors, nurses and hospitality industry workers will be able to get to Canada faster and contribute immediately instead of languishing in line. This change is critical for immigration to work in Canada because it will help bolster our cradle-to-grave social programs.
The opposition Liberals’ and the NDP’s whisper campaigns about the Tories being racist and wanting to shut the door on Asian immigrants are just that – smear tactics aimed at frightening new Canadians.
Canada’s hope for the future lies in immigration. It’s not about how many we take but who we take that will distinguish Canada.
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