The Federal Tories perferred workers
I really like this Globe and Mail article warning Canada it could end up as safe haven for a deluge of economic refugees because it cuts to something I have been shouting in the dark about for some time.
The worst recession in a generation has already played havoc with the job market, housing prices and the banking system. Now it’s doing the same with something else: the worldwide movement of people.
The world’s wealthiest nations, from Japan to Spain to Australia, are cutting immigration targets to protect fragile labour markets and encouraging itinerant workers to leave. Only Canada has refused to adjust immigration levels in response to the downturn. This outlier status has led to concern among border officials that the country’s sympathetic refugee system and generous social programs will make it a prime target for migrants rejected elsewhere.
A government intelligence document described as sensitive and not for public distribution warns that more migrants from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America could opt to come to Canada rather than Western Europe or the United States. The report refers to both legal applicants and those who try to enter illegally.
“We’re planning for the economic recovery. Cutting immigration levels is a short-term measure,” said Alykhan Velshi, spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. At the same time, Mr. Velshi said, Canada must guard against those who would try to enter illegally.
Do venture into the comments for a looksee. Most of the ‘gut’ reaction believes only Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are politically ‘tough enough to say no’ to the onslaught. So what is the solution? Well, I guess it depends on who you ask.
The report, produced by the Canada Border Services Agency, was obtained by immigration lawyer Richard Kurland through access to information. Mr. Kurland said the document shows that the wisest path is to further integrate the temporary foreign workers already in Canada and not reduce immigration.
The document forecasts unrest in the migrants’ home countries that could create a complicated feedback loop of migration issues. Migrants send their families about $283-billion a year, and when remittances from some countries dry up, poverty will be exacerbated, which in turn can destabilize the population and encourage more people to seek any route to a well-paying job. Desperation could lead more people to human smugglers and organized crime, it says.
“The knee-jerk reaction is to yank the welcome mat and this internal intelligence report clearly shows that’s not the way to go … You’re going to be exporting political instability by exporting workers into regions already fragile politically and economically. It will inevitably hasten their decline,” Mr. Kurland said. “In the short term, protecting foreign workers who are already in Canada is the gateway to future economic growth.”
About those foreign temporary ‘guest’ workers programs in Canada; well, well, it just turns out that the Harper ‘tough on immigration & refugees’ Conservatives have been most generous. In fact, far more generous than any pervious liberal administration in allowing the country to be flooded with temporary ‘guest workers. Toronto Star:
When Canada decided to allow employers facing acute labour shortages to hire temporary foreign workers, seven years ago, no one foresaw where it would lead. Few imagined that a small experimental program could shake the underpinnings of the immigration system, distort the job market and raise human rights concerns.
Initially, the “low-skill pilot project” was tightly controlled. Employers had to prove they’d made a genuine effort to recruit Canadians. Ottawa had to agree that bringing in migrant labour would benefit the national economy. And foreign workers had to leave after 12 months. For the few first years, the program produced a trickle of temporary residents.
That trickle has now swollen into a flood. In 2008, close to 200,000 temporary foreign workers arrived in Canada to drive trucks, serve fast food, clean buildings, even do government jobs. Today, more than half of those entering the country take this backdoor route.
Employers use the program as a source of cheap labour. The government promotes it as an efficient way to fill job vacancies. Immigration consultants capitalize on it, charging applicants hefty fees and promising them high wages, good working conditions, decent housing and employer-paid trips back to their home country.
How did a small detour around Canada’s normal immigrant intake system expand into a high-speed thoroughfare for people who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for admission? And how will young Canadians, laid-off older workers and job seekers without post-secondary education get an economic foothold with so many entry-level positions filled?
The rapid expansion of the program began in 2006, when the newly elected government of Stephen Harper, reacting to pressure from the oil patch, “streamlined” the rules.
It introduced a fast-track approval process for employers seeking to bring in migrant labour and reduced the requirement for advertising job openings in Canada from six weeks to seven days. The following year, the Conservatives announced that temporary foreign workers would be able to stay for two years without extending their visas.
And last year, Ottawa added a new feature called the Canadian Experience Class, which allowed temporary workers to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country. (What the government failed to make clear is that most low-skilled foreigners had little hope of meeting Canada’s admission criteria. That meant they would either have to leave or attempt to stay illegally.)
Since the Tories took power, the number of temporary foreign workers accepted into the country has risen from 122,723 a year to 192,519 a year – a 67 per cent increase.
Of course Canada needs a flood of temporary guest workers when unemployment among regular citizens rises up, up and verges close into the double digits. I can just hear the Harper Conservative mantra now…let us pray to keep a surplus of cheap foreign labour so wages can be remain low in Canada and spare the Mexican (or fill in the blank country) government from ‘political unrest’….it’s a Stephen Harper twofer!
I agree its long past the time in this country to have a discussion and dialogue in this country on immigration, refugees and citizenship – its just that I do not trust the current government to have an open and honest dialogue with Canadians nor do I trust Harper’s conservatives to develop policy or craft legislation which keeps what is in the best interest of ordinary Canadians in mind rather than what works best for their political backers.
And neither should any other Canadian.
