Cut immigration applications to fix backlog? This is what Jason Kenny, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada said to the House committee on citizenship and immigration recently. (For a detailed report on this, follow http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/10/20/pol-kenney-immigration-cut-applications.html)
I am saddened each time I hear topics like this. It has always been my position that we should not use backlog or lack of resources as an excuse to cap immigration applications. Resources should be allocated and backlog must be reduced if this is in Canada’s interest. The same problem comes back: What is the optimum level of immigration for Canada? How many immigrants we desire and how many we may accept? This is not in terms of CIC’s budge but in terms of Canada’s economic conditions and social preferences.
Grandparents may cost Canada some medi-care or other resources, but they bring benefits too. Parents who might not be able to afford day care may go back to the job market now, and aren’t we consistently talking about the lack of hands to fill the too many vacancies the baby boomer are leaving to us? Probably more importantly, family reunification is priceless for many immigrants whose parents are outside the country.
Jason Kenny invited Canadians to participate in a survey on the right levels and mix of immigration back in September this year. I haven’t heard about any result yet, but now he is already talking about capping immigration level.
Even if we need to limit the intake of immigrants, capping is not a smart way to achieve the goal. People with some knowledge in economics would know that artificially setting quota does more harm than to achieve the optimum import and export levels. This is more so when other options are available. The Federal skilled worker program, for example, has already incorporated a passmark system which the Minister can use to reduce the number of applicants, but this has never been done. Similarly, if we think there are too many parental sponsorship applications pending, other requirements can be made so that we may have a more selective pool of applicants.
On this point, I cannot agree more on what NDP immigration critic Don Davies said:
“What I object to the most is the minister has come into this so-called study, these meetings, with a preconceived conclusion. The only policy tool that he’s looking at is capping applications. Well, that’s not the only policy tool available to the minister.”