Update Sept. 20: The Star Welcomes The Lowering of Standards for Foreign-trained Workers
I wrote commentary yesterday on this topic Why Does “fairness, openness and flexibility” Mean Lower Immigration Standards, Mr. Coderre?. My concern is LACK OF QUALITY CONTROL at our borders since it seems too many dangerous characters have been allowed in--terrorists, murderers, drug barons, shake-down artists who plague immigrant communities, and other assorted thugs. However, I think it only fair to add another point of view today. NJC
Census figures show the necessity of a steady influx of new Canadians. Our birth rate is falling and our population is aging. Without a large supply of foreign-trained workers, this country will face skill shortages. Employers will go begging for people to fill vacant jobs.
Easing the rules for immigrants, as Coderre is belatedly doing, should help lure the trained workers this country needs. They're not all members of the wealthy business class, but the people who will toil at unglamorous jobs to build a better life.
Faced with a flood of multi-million dollar lawsuits, the federal government yesterday agreed to re-evaluate thousands of potential immigrants who applied for visas under old rules but were not assessed before tougher standards came into place.
The surprise about-face is expected to bring an end to a controversy that began in February, when a judge ruled that federal bureaucrats misled Parliament about severe backlogs in the immigration system.
[. . . .]
"Misrepresenting Parliament, wrongly failing 100,000 applicants and bilking them of their processing fees is not the way to run the immigration department."
Mr. Coderre also revealed yesterday that all potential immigrants will have an easier time getting into the country. [Why? Don’t we take enough now?]
[. . . .]
While most observers welcomed the lower standards, some expressed concern that the new plan was unveiled in an effort to overshadow the legal troubles the government is trying to overcome.
Those troubles began in December, 2001, when the government announced its new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which included a different points system to assess skilled workers applying for entry into Canada.
[. . . .]
But in a Federal Court ruling this year, Mr. Justice Michael Kelen said the department supplied "significantly incorrect numbers" to the parliamentary committee, and when bureaucrats realized the backlog actually affected between 80,000 and 120,000 people, they "did not inform Parliament of this error."
In the process, he said, the government pocketed $125-million while ignoring "the outstanding applicants as if there was no looming deadline."
Should those who lied to—or is the correct word misinformed—the Minister not lose their jobs for incompetence – or for willfully misleading him as our representative? Heads should roll – but probably won’t.
The judge ordered all 102 prospective immigrants who filed the claim to be immediately appraised under the old criteria.
An appeals court upheld the ruling, and over the past four months, thousands of other would-be immigrants joined a series of class-action lawsuits.
In June, the plaintiffs obtained an injunction prohibiting the government from rejecting any claimants caught in the backlog until the case was decided.
That was the final straw, Mr. Coderre said yesterday.
Do you think standards for entry to Canada will ever be raised or would the stakeholders get taxpayers’ money to go to court over it? NJC
