Not only has Maryam Monsef been silent about her ongoing scandal, but she is also failing to do her job as the Democratic Institutions Minister.
Last week, Prime Minister Trudeau was criticized for “flip-flopping” on his commitment to overhaul Canada’s electoral system. When asked if he was backtracking on his promise, Trudeau said “it’s a challenge to find consensus among a broad spectrum of public opinion”. This should come as a surprise to Canadians, as the Minister of Democratic Institutions, Maryam Monsef, failed to include any insights from the town halls she has hosted across the country. Furthermore, Ms. Monsef didn’t even appear at committee, despite a motion asking her to submit summaries of her findings.
In other news, prior to the Monsef controversy, Immigration Minister John McCallum had no issues with stripping citizenship away from those who committed fraud and abused Canada’s immigration system. Mr. McCallum was even considering placing a moratorium on the practice weeks after the Monsef scandal emerged. It now looks like the Immigration Minister has taken a step back and won’t be placing a moratorium on citizenship revocation, after discovering “large scale fraud investigations”. It’s shocking that immigration fraud is “news” to the Immigration Minister.
The Advisory Council on Economic Growth has called on the government to increase immigration targets by 50% (450,000 people a year) to stimulate economic growth. Under the current government, Canada is on track to welcome more than 300,000 immigrants in 2016, with a greater focus on humanitarian selection. Although Immigration Minister John McCallum said he was hoping to increase immigration to fill Canada’s labour needs, he says the Advisory Council’s proposal is “too ambitious”. John McCallum needs to tell Canadians what his plan is – will he target newcomers for their skills and entrepreneurial nature? Or will Canada be focusing on bringing in more refugees?
