On Monday, Immigration Minister John McCallum tabled the immigration levels for the upcoming year. Canada will bring in 300,000 new arrivals next year despite the government’s own economic council recommending raising the target to 450,000. We’re glad to see the government focus on economic immigrants (skilled workers, entrepreneurs, caregivers, etc.) to address shortages in the Canadian economy. However, it’s not enough to simply bring in more immigrants into the country. The government has to ensure Canada is bringing in the necessary skills to fill the various labour needs across the country and help grow the economy to benefit ALL CANADIANS. It’s not acceptable that skilled immigrants are struggling to find jobs even though they’re qualified.
The Conservative Leadership race continues to heat up. Lisa Raitt, the MP for Halton, officially entered the race and almost immediately has become a favourite to win the race. One of the first things reporters asked was her opinion on Kellie Leitch’s proposal to screen immigrants and refugees for “anti-Canadian values”. Raitt said ensuring we have a strong immigration system that helps immigrants prosper in Canada is more important than having a test “determining whether or not you enjoy freedom, or if you like maple syrup.” It’s easy to cater to the Ottawa elitists and poke fun of Kellie Leitch, but the fact of the matter is – Canadians are in favour of additional screening of immigrants to ensure they integrate and prosper in Canada.
True North’s Senior Fellow, Candice Malcolm, has written more than a dozen articles about the developing case surrounding Maryam Monsef. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Trudeau finally addressed questions regarding his Democratic Institutions Minister. Speaking at a press conference, Trudeau defended Monsef, and said it’s common for people from conflict zones to be unclear about where they were born. “This is a situation in which people are conflating for political reasons,” he said. Although we’re glad the Prime Minister has finally acknowledged the controversy surrounding his colleague, he is clearly misinformed and is hoping this story just goes away. But Canadians deserve to know the truth – as Candice points out, the Trudeau government actively revokes citizenship from people who provide false information on their applications. Will Maryam Monsef receive the same treatment if it turns out her citizenship application contained false information?
