Harper pledges action on immigrant credentials and aggressively reducing the Right of Landing Fee
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Canada needs change to a new government – a government that will bring accountability to Ottawa, and a government that will get on with addressing the real priorities of ordinary working Canadians and their families. Ordinary people come from all regions and from all walks of life, and in Canada they come from every corner of the earth.
Today I want to talk more specifically about how my new government will address the concerns of hard-working immigrants and new Canadians. In recent years, Members of Parliament of all parties have become aware of the day-to-day problems in our immigration process, and in the processing of files of all kinds through the Department of Immigration.
In the spring, after the revelation of the government’s use of immigration visas for partisan purposes, as well as other scandals such as the special stripper program, I asked our senior critic for immigration, Diane Ablonczy, as well as a number of other Conservative MPs, to conduct a wide-ranging nation-wide consultation with new Canadians on matters of concern to them. New Canadians represent the essence of the Canadian experience and the Canadian dream. They have chosen Canada. They have left behind generations of history and family connections to embrace the risks and possibilities of political freedom and economic opportunity for themselves and their children. They have come to a country which they can define, not one which will define them. New Canadians are hard-working, they pay their taxes, and they play by the rules. New Canadians bring deeply held values to our shared country. Things like the importance of honesty and hard work, a commitment to children and to family life, and a respect for law and order. These are Canadian values, and these are the core values that I will bring to a new Conservative government – a government that shares your values, a government that is on your side.
In every cultural community in Canada there are countless stories of individual success that give our economy and our society the dynamism that only new members can truly bring. For your many contributions, new Canadians truly deserve something better than what we have seen in the recent past. You deserve better than to be manipulated by a minister seeking to trade visa approvals for political favours. You deserve better than to have your values ignored while your political support is taken for granted. You deserve better than to see your experience, education, and credentials overlooked while the government recruits strippers.
Today I want to talk about how my government will reduce the barriers facing new Canadians looking to make a new life in Canada. It is tough to immigrate to Canada and find the right job, and it will probably never be easy. In the past it was often harder, sometimes unjustifiably unfair. That is why, for example, our Chinese-Canadian community deserves an apology for the head tax, and appropriate acknowledgement, and redress of that wrong.
Today other challenges face immigrants. The biggest barrier to new Canadians is the frequent failure of Canada to recognize legitimate foreign credentials. Whenever this happens, not only are the dreams of individuals and families shattered, but Canada as a whole is deprived of all they have to offer. We owe it to new Canadians to make a determined effort to fix this problem.
To do this, a new Conservative government will create a Canadian Agency for the Assessment and Recognition of Credentials. The agency will provide a pre-assessment of international credentials and experience before immigrants even come to Canada. It will collect information on foreign credentials to evaluate appropriate comparisons with Canadian credentials. It will work with provinces and professional associations to encourage the recognition or adaptation of foreign credentials in as timely a manner as possible. And it will work with employers to encourage a better understanding of these credentials, which are too often undervalued in the marketplace.
All evidence suggests that Canada will only be able to meet its current and future workforce needs by recruiting and taking full advantage of the skills of foreign-trained professionals and trades-people. This is the most important challenge we must overcome in the area of immigration.
Another barrier to immigrants is the government’s $975 Right of Landing Fee. The government imposed this fee but failed to speed up the application process. In fact, it slowed down. Despite collecting billions, the backlog of applications in immigration has only grown. Rather than forcing new Canadians to pay nearly $1,000 on their arrival, Immigrants and their families should be able to keep more money in their own pockets to start a new life in Canada. Our new government will immediately cut the Right of Landing Fee in half. We will further reduce it as the fiscal situation allows, with the goal of reducing it to $100 in the course of our mandate. Let me just point out that it was Mr. Martin who imposed this fee in his 1995 budget. It was his $975 “welcome mat”. Through a decade of budgets and surpluses he never announced any plan to remove it. Through no less than three budgets and hundreds of announcements in 2005, he never uttered a peep about its unfairness. He did not do it – he did not even plan to do it – when he had the chance. I will do it.
And our platform has carefully considered and costed this measure in a way that is doable. Hard-working immigrants and new Canadians need a new government – a government that shares your values, a government that shares your priorities. Priorities like providing real tax relief to working families by cutting the GST, by reducing taxes for small business, and by providing personal income tax relief for transit users. For students’ textbooks, for seniors’ pensions and for children’s athletic activities. Priorities like providing choice in childcare, by recognizing that parents need direct help with the costs of raising their children and may make choices for their families other than institutional daycare. Priorities like providing safe streets and safe neighbourhoods, where families will not be threatened by crime and children not exposed to drugs and to gangs. It’s called law and order, and its symbol will be the determination of my government to thoroughly investigate the biggest crime in Canadian history, by calling a full judicial inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing.
New Canadians will be a critical part of making the 21st century our greatest one yet. New Canadians deserve a federal government that truly respects your efforts and hard work, understands your values, and never takes you for granted. A government you can feel a part of. A new Conservative government.
On January 23rd, stand up for accountability, stand up for new Canadians, stand up for Canada.
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For further information: Conservative Party Press Office (613) 755-2191
