Liberal immigration platform completely misses mark

Now that a federal election has been called, the battle for Canada’s “immigrant vote” has officially begun.

On Saturday, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion made the first grab for the ethnic vote by promising to:

-support the admission of “significantly more permanent residents to Canada”;
-reverse the “dangerous immigration changes” introduced by the Conservatives this past summer;
-spend $400 million to make our immigration system more efficient;
-spend $200 million on enhanced language training for newcomers; and
-spend another $200 million to better prepare newcomers for the Canadian workplace.

Dion’s plan lacks credibility and suggests that the Liberals have no idea as to what is wrong with our immigration system or any idea as to how to fix it.

Firstly, this is not the first time we have heard a Liberal promise to increase immigration levels. In 1993, the Liberals published their Red Book which promised to increase annual immigration levels to 1% of Canada’s population. In the past 15 years, there have been no less than seven Liberal immigration ministers, and not once has that promise been honoured. In fact, the Liberals, while in power, allowed our immigration levels to drop significantly from 0.9% to just 0.6% of our population. Although the one percent target seems to have now been clearly abandoned, Dion nonetheless reserves considerable wiggle room by refusing to specify the actual number of annual immigrants he plans to admit.

As for his promise to reverse the Conservative’s summertime immigration power grab, wasn’t it Dion’s party that just barely showed up to oppose the bill which allowed it to happen? If immigration fairness was so important to the Liberals, they would have shown up for work in Parliament on that very important day in June.

Although I would love to see a more efficient immigration system, Dion provides absolutely no details as to how he plans to spend the promised $400 million. Surely, a plan to spend that kind of our hard-earned money cries out for some minimal details. He provides none. In any event, it’s impossible to justify such a huge price tag without some idea of the service standards that he seeks to achieve or the increased numbers he expects the department to generate on an annual basis.

As for yet another increase in spending for language and workforce training, I think it is fair to assume that if our immigration system was selecting the right candidates from the global pool of 7 billion people, we wouldn’t need to spend much money at all on language and workplace training except perhaps for members of the family class and refugees who are not assessed on these abilities.

We have serious problems in our immigration program that our political leaders are not even trying to address. We have a business immigration program that is so slow, cumbersome, and unpredictable that it is completely unappealing to the many foreign entrepreneurs and investors who would otherwise invest here. We continue to bring in immigrants that our industries don’t want and deny access to those who are sorely needed. We have a Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S. which is used by our government as authority for denying protection to legitimate refugees who are destined here. We have section 117 (9) (d) which, on a daily basis, permanently separates foreign spouses and children from their Canadian relatives. We have a humanitarian provision in our legislation which our immigration officers spend countless hours figuring out how to avoid and a federal court which regularly lets them get away with it. The list of problems is long and painful.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily a fan of the immigration policies of the current government. But an unconvincing, vague, and wasteful Liberal plan should not be left unanswered.

Guidy Mamann practices law in Toronto at Mamann & Associates and is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as an immigration specialist.  Reach him confidentially at 416-862-0000 or at metro@migrationlaw.com.