by Candice Malcolm
Toronto Sun
March 9, 2016
The tomfoolery continues over at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
It has been one reckless decision after another by the new Trudeau government, which seems to be doing its very best to manipulate the immigration process for partisan gain.
First, it flung open Canada’s borders to admit 25,000 Syrians without ever answering tough national security questions.
Then, it blew up the Citizenship Act with a new bill that will give citizenship away to part-time residents after just three years, even if they don’t speak French or English.
Now, Immigration Minister John McCallum has announced the government is drastically restructuring the composition of the immigrants we welcome.
It is cutting economic immigration, and instead, will be tripling the number of refugees and increasing “family reunification” by 12,000 spots.
Under the Harper Conservatives, Canada realigned its immigration system towards economic growth.
The government scrapped the old Liberal model that was rotten with fraud and abuse, and began to put Canada’s national interest ahead of special interests and immigration lawyers.
Canada accepted more newcomers with the skills and education our economy needed, and aligned our migration policies with labour shortages in the economy.
Meanwhile, it accepted fewer elderly immigrants, who put a strain on our social services without contributing to the tax base.
By selecting younger migrants, and fast-tracking visas for those with tangible skills, Canada’s immigration system helped grow our economy and reverse the troubling demographic trend of our aging population.
This economic realignment made Canada the gold standard of Western migration programs.
Now, Justin Trudeau and company are reversing this progress in pursuit of a political agenda.
They are bribing newcomers with our money, and putting our publicly funded health care and retirement funds, specifically Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), at risk in order to win future elections.
McCallum said his plan represents a “significant shift in immigration policy towards reuniting more families.”
But once again, the Liberals are not being upfront with Canadians about their plan.
When someone receives an economic visa to come to Canada, they can automatically sponsor their immediate family members — a spouse and any dependent children. Family members make up over 60% of all economic immigration.
In order words, our economic category of immigration already encompasses family sponsorship.
The “family reunification” category is different. It helps Canadians sponsor a foreign spouse or adult family members.
More than one-third of “family reunification” spots are elderly parents and grandparents.
Before Trudeau took over, parents and grandparents could quickly and easily receive a 10-year multiple entry visa, known as a “super visa”.
They could come and go as they pleased, and stay in Canada for up to two years at a time.
The major difference was that, under the “super visa” these elders needed private health insurance, and could not access Canada’s social services.
This is only fair, since they didn’t work in Canada and did not contribute to our tax base.
The Trudeau government’s “shift” is designed to enable elderly parents and grandparents to receive Canadian welfare, health care, OAS, GIS and other social programs as soon as they arrive in Canada.
The Liberals will get more votes, and young taxpayers will get stuck with the bill.
Be the first to comment
Sign in with