Huge Problems with Canada's Immigration System  

Auditor General Sheila Fraser confirmed in a report released in November what Liberals have been saying for years – the Harper Conservatives’ handling of the immigration backlog and the temporary foreign worker program is in shambles, said Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua.

“This report slams the Conservative government’s inability to manage the immigration file,” said Mr. Bevilacqua. “Clearly this is a wake-up call for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to rethink his entire strategy when it comes to the immigration system.”

According to the AG report tabled in the House of Commons, the minister and his department have made a number of key decisions in recent years without properly assessing their costs, benefits and potential risks. 

The report exposes huge problems with Canada’s immigration system: no clear and strategic plan to properly address Canada’s labour market needs; a large number of vulnerable foreign workers in need of protection; 620,000 skilled workers in the cue, waiting an average of 63 months to have their applications processed; and a Minister that can not justify his need for ministerial powers that enable him to shut Canada’s doors on immigrants.

In 2008, the government introduced controversial immigration policy changes that critics said would only serve to shut the door on thousands of potential immigrants in the cue.  Ms. Fraser confirmed that the unprecedented changes have done little to cut down the number of new applications pouring in or significantly reduce the backlog of existing applications.

“The backlog was an excuse by this ideological government to grant the Immigration Minister sweeping discretionary powers to reject whole categories of immigration applications,” said Mr. Bevilacqua. “A sensible approach to deal with the immigration backlog is to provide additional resources for application processing, more support for immigrant settlement and increase the number of permanent residents Canada accepts.”

Despite the economic downturn, there are still skills shortages in many fields and Canada is still competing with the rest of the world for the best and brightest immigrants to help build the jobs of tomorrow. 

“The Auditor General’s report clearly points to the fact that we have a temporary foreign worker program that is open to abuse and a department that has no process for determining whether their list of occupations is in tune with the demands of our labour market needs,” said Mr. Bevilacqua.

“Immigration is absolutely essential to ensuring the growth of Canada’s economy and our growth as a multicultural nation,” concluded Mr. Bevilacqua.  “Now, more than ever, Canada needs a clear and well-defined strategy to integrate new Canadians into our workforce.  We are falling behind the rest of the world in an area we once led.”