MAKING IMMIGRATION WORK FOR CANADA

Joe Bissett's Presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Bill C425 An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act, April 2013

I am going to confine my remarks to the second part of the amendment dealing
with the issue of stripping citizenship from dual citizens who engage in an act of
war against Canadian armed forces. I agree with the intent and spirit of this
amendment but believe that by confining it to an act of war against our armed
forces the amendment overlooks other equally or even more heinous acts that
might be carried out against Canada and Canadian citizens who are not members of
the armed services.

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Age of Terror enters a new phase by Derek Burney and Fen Hampson published by iPolitics, April 29, 2013

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Labour Strategy Needed to Meet Skills Gap
by Martin Collacott published by the Toronto Sun, May 7, 2013

The number of immigrants to Canada in 2010 was the highest for a single year during the past 60 years.

The left has made a strong case for why the temporary foreign worker program needs a complete overhaul.

It points out that employers use the program to fill Canadian jobs and suppress wages and, while Canadians are the best-trained workers in the industrial world, 1.4 million of them are officially unemployed and the so-called skills crisis is a self-serving myth.

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Harper Chides Trudeau Over Response to Attacks
April 30, 2013
Re: Harper chides Trudeau over response to attacks, April 18

Justin Trudeau was not wrong in suggesting that we look at the motives behind terrorist acts such as the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Where he went off the tracks was when he emphasized the importance of taking into account the “root causes” of such acts and that failure to do so risked “marginalizing even further those who are already feeling like enemies of society.” The implication of such statements is that society should take some responsibility for this marginalization.

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Canadian Workers Should Not Be Replaced by Temporary Foreign Workers: The Enabling TFW Program Should Be Reviewed

For Immediate Release
April 11, 2013

Recent events involving temporary foreign workers point to serious deficiencies not only in Canada´s Temporary Foreign Worker Program but to deficiencies in how, overall, federal and provincial governments are failing to reconcile immigration policy with Canada´s employment needs.  Most recently, these events involved Canadian IT jobs at RBC Investor Services. Previously, it was a controversy now before Federal Courts regarding the importation of Chinese workers by a B.C. mining company. Not to be forgotten and for no apparent reason, Tim Hortons, among other iconic Canadian corporations, employs thousands of temporary foreign workers.

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Are Apologies in Order?
By Martin Collacott
published by the Vancouver Sun, March 7, 2013

Komagata Maru incident and Chinese head tax were the result of economic considerations.

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“Sanctuary City” is an Insult to Legal Immigrants and a First Step to Dismantling Control and Management of Immigration

For Immediate Release      
February 27, 2013

The Centre for Immigration Policy Reform condemns the decision by the Toronto city council to declare Toronto a “Sanctuary City.” Despite having sworn a solemn oath to bear allegiance to the Queen and the laws of Canada, the councillors on February 21 voted 37 to 3 in favour of permitting individuals who are in the country illegally to have access to all city services. Having already pursued a policy of “don´t ask –don´t tell” in the provision of such services, this is tantamount to an open refusal to cooperate with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws.

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Government's immigration reform makes good sense
By Martin Collacott, Vancouver Sun, January 30th, 2013

In her column, "Fairness lost in immigration reform" (The Vancouver Sun, Wednesday, Jan 23, 2013), Antje Ellermann questions the fairness of the government's decision to terminate the applications of 280,000 foreign skilled workers. While the decision was no doubt a major disappointment for those involved, it is important to take note of the circumstances in which it was taken. 
 
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Canada needs to reverse its slacker reputation on security
By Derek Burney and Fen Osler Hampson, iPolitics, January 28, 2013

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal´s unsubstantiated allegation that a Canadian was one of the masterminds behind the terrorist attack on the In Amenas natural gas plant raises a host of deeply troubling questions about our immigration, security and intelligence apparatus.

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Mistaking Islamism for Islam
By Fred Litwin and Salim Mansur, Ottawa Citizen, January 28, 2013

Too many who oppose fanaticism end up supporting the Islamist view that Muslims cannot be moderate, write Fred Litwin and Salim Mansur.

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James Bissett: Canada makes the right moves on immigration
JAMES BISSETT, SPECIAL TO NATIONAL POST | Dec 31, 2012

Last month, new rules to deal with asylum seekers and human smugglers took effect in Canada. They represent a return to a time when common sense prevailed to prevent the abuse of our laws.

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On December 12, CBC-TV´s news program The National ran a 20 minute segment on the lives of members of the Roma community in Hungary in relation to the fact that large numbers of them have been making refugee claims in Canada. Almost the entire segment portrayed them in a very sympathetic light and left no doubt that Canada should accept them as refugees. Arguments as to why they may not be genuine refugees were given very short shrift. Only about one and one half minutes of the segment was devoted t why refugee claims by Hungarian nationals were considered to be of questionable merit.

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CANADA MUST INCREASE WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS
December 10, 2012

For Immediate Release December 10, 2012

According to media reports, in 2014 the government plans to increase immigration from current levels of about a quarter of a million to 337,000 by the year 2018. With intake already much higher than it should be in relation to the interests and wishes of Canadians, such a large increase is clearly a bad idea.

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IS THE U.S. CANADIAN BORDER A SECURITY THREAT?
By James Bissett

Published as a chapter in Terror in the Peaceable Kingdom Understanding and Addressing Violent Extremism in Canada, Edited by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Senator Linda Frum (FDD Press, Washington D.C. 2012)

Abstract:

Canada responded quickly to the events of 9/11 including  to U.S. concerns about the security of its northern border.  Some the anti-terrorist legislation that was enacted has since met with stiff opposition from those concerned that it jeopardizes human rights, privacy and individual freedoms.  Moreover, what may prove to be the most serious security threat to North America – Canada´s wide-open immigration and refugee system – has not been addressed.  This omission and the reasons why these policies need to be reformed are examined in this paper. 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30th, 2012

GOVERNMENT PLAN FOR FULL USE OF CANADIAN WORKERS URGENTLY NEEDED AS ADMISSION OF UP TO 2,000 CHINESE WORKERS FOR BC MINING JOBS GETS UNDERWAY.

Trade Unions in British Columbia have reacted strongly to the issuance of 201 permits allowing
Chinese workers jobs in four BC coal mines. According to media reports, BC officials should have known since 2007 that Chinese investment in these projects would largely involve Chinese miners. That´s ample time to train Canadians for the jobs instead.

Yet when BC premier Christy Clark announced on November 9, 2011 that Chinese funding would be provided for two of the projects and that this would create thousands of jobs in the province, she failed to point out that an estimated 1,600 to 2,000 of the mining jobs would go to Chinese nationals and only 400 to 800 full-time mining jobs to Canadians - ostensibly because only these few were sufficiently qualified for the work.

Like the Chinese workers who were imported during the 19th century to build Canada´s railways, this suggests that the real reason for the admission Chinese workers under the temporary foreign worker program is that they can be paid wages lower than those acceptable to Canadians. Media reports, moreover, indicate that many could be here indefinitely.

These mining projects reflect the readiness of some Canadian firms to seek foreign investment
with little regard for the welfare of Canadian workers. Clearly, no shortage of these is apparent
when account is taken of unemployed youth, aboriginals, mature workers who have lost their
jobs or those who are encouraged not to seek employment because of badly targeted
employment insurance. Considering, too, how Canadian resource corporations are increasingly attracting foreign investment, some of which could bring larger influxes of foreign workers, it is now urgent that Canada draw up a plan for making full use of Canadian workers before hard and fast precedents are established.

For further information please visit www.immigrationreform.ca.

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Opinion:  Use existing residents to deal with Canada's labour demand 
By Martin Collacott, Vancover Sun October 1, 2012

The Canadian Press reported on Sept. 20 that Rick Dykstra, the parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, met with representatives of the Assembly of First Nations and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples to obtain their views on immigration policy. This is the first time such a meeting has taken place with leaders of Canada´s native communities and is significant in terms of ascertaining their views on the extent to which current immigration levels may affect the prospects of bringing more people from their communities into the workforce.

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Witness Statement to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration
By Salim Mansur, October 1, 2012

Honourable Members,

Many thanks for inviting me to share my thoughts with this Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. I appear before you as a common citizen deeply apprehensive and concerned about the drift of our country as it changes due to the
rate of immigration that is without precedent among any of the advanced liberal democracies of the West. My expertise, or to the extent my expertise is recognized by this Committee for which I have been invited to appear before you, is that of a professional academic, a researcher, writer, author and public intellectual of some recognition in this great country of ours, and I am both proud and humbled to come before you as an unhyphenated Canadian.

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Immigration reform group is not about race
Vancouver Sun
September 26, 2012

Re: Canada hasn't left undesirable days behind, Sept. 22 In her article, Eva Sajoo claims I made statements implying Canada should restrict the immigration of people from certain countries - "the non-white ones" - because they are more likely to commit crimes. This is completely untrue.

I said we needed to research the immigration backgrounds of serious criminals and gang members as well as their immigrant parents to find out if certain immigration and refugee programs are more likely to result in problematic outcomes.

As an example, I raised the question of whether programs that allow single parents with low-earning potential to bring their children to Canada were at significant risk of having negative outcomes.

The Centre for Immigration Policy Reform, for which I am a spokesperson, advocates that we should continue to welcome immigrants of all backgrounds and origins.

Readers who wish to find out more about our objectives can access our website, immigrationreform.ca They will find our Advisory Board is comprised of members of various ethnic and religious backgrounds who came here from different parts of the world including "the non-white ones."

They will also find that we don't consider it necessary to distort and misrepresent the views of others in order to make our case.

Martin Collacott Vancouver

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The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which played a key role in helping to attract almost 16,000 immigrants to Manitoba last year, got a lot of press last April.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney touched off the controversy, announcing the Manitoba government would no longer be on the receiving end of some $36 million for immigrant settlement services. The province reacted strongly claiming this would ruin the program, which was critical for the province's population and development strategy.

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‘Muslim Tide´ more than a ripple
Re: The ‘Muslim Tide´ That Wasn´t, Doug Saunders, Aug. 29
Published in the National Post,  September 6, 2012

Doug Saunders assembles a great deal of data and argumentation in an effort to prove that the notion Western countries are facing a “Muslim Tide” is nothing more than a myth. The fact is, however, that, because of our unnecessarily high immigration levels, a country such as Canada is projected to have a Muslim population of 6.6% less than 20 years from now. This will put us on a par with the current situation in Western European countries that are having major problems with the integration of their growing Muslim populations.

Although Mr. Saunders claims that there is no “Muslim Tide” occurring in Western countries, it would be difficult for anyone to describe as a mere ripple the growth of Canada´s Muslim population from 98,000 in 1981 to a projected 2,870,000 in 2031 (according to the Pew Forum). This increase will have taken it, for example, from being one-third the size of Canada´s Jewish community to being almost seven times as large in the space of just five decades. In the circumstances, there may be increased pressure for the introduction of Shariah law in Canada and for changes in Canadian society to accommodate Muslim customs and traditions. Also, at the foreign policy level, increased pressure to give more support to the Arab side than to Israel in the Middle East conflict.

Martin Collacott, spokesperson for the Centre for Immigration Policy Reform, Vancouver.

Connecting crime dots
Is there a link between gang violence and immigration policies?
 
Martin Collacott  Toronto Sun, August 3, 2012

The recent shootings in Toronto have elicited a great deal of discussion about how to deal with gang violence. The elephant in the room is the extent to which such problems may be related to immigration and refugee policies.

When Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney declared themselves in favour of removing foreign criminals from the country, this was already too much for some of the opposition. They were quickly criticized by federal Liberals for “fanning the flames of ignorance and prejudice,” according to MP John McKay.

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A summary of comments from poet, writer and environmental activist  Mark O´Connor´s chapter in  “Environmental Policy Failure:  The Australian Story” just published by Tilde University Press in Melbourne, courtesy of Dan Murray, CIPR Friend and Founder Immigration Watch Canada

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Stationary Population as a Policy Vision
By Anatole Romaniuk

Abstract

The article argues in favour of a stationary population as an optimal response   to the quest for ecological and economic sustainability, national identity, social cohesion and world peace. The means of achieving it are identified. Western democracy countries, in particular, are faced with a unique set of challenges arising out of the prevailing imbalance between fertility and immigration. Hence, in order to actualize the benefits of a stationary demographic configuration, they need to raise their fertility to the generational replacement level (two births per woman). The calibration of immigration ought to be consistent with the preservation of national identity and social cohesion. In respect to the doctrinal debates, the virtue of the stationary population is that it cuts across ecologists´ long term concerns and economists´ short term concerns.   Read more pdf …

Anatole Romaniuk is the Former Director of the Demographic Division at Statistics Canada, and Adjunct Professor of Demography at the University of Alberta. Published by Optimum Online, The Journal of Public Sector Management in March of 2012 and republished by CIPR with permission,  this is a revised version of a paper originally presented under the title “Stationary Population as Theoretical Concept and as Policy Vision” at the 26th General Population Conference, organized by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) – Marrakech, (Morroco), 2009.

Fiscal Transfers to Immigrants in Canada: Responding to Critics and a Revised Estimate

Read the Fraser Institute study by Herbert Grubel and Patrick Grady published on March 15, 2012 here:  http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/display.aspx?id=18103

The Parent and Grandparent Immigration Program in Canada:
Costs and Proposed Changes 
A Working Paper by Patrick Grady,  February 6, 2012

Abstract:

This paper examines the need for the parent and grandparent immigration program in Canada and provides critical observations on its objectives and operations and offers empirical estimates on its costs.  And, as a contribution to the Government´s recently launched consultations on how to redesign the program to make it more fiscally sustainable, it offers a specific proposal.

First, the costs: taking into account a $1.3 billion per year increase in transfer payments to parents and grandparents (in 2005) estimated from the Census 2006 Public Use Microfile and the $4.6 billion extra healthcare spending estimated from Canadian Institute for Health Information data and allowing for growth in numbers and costs, the annual fiscal costs of the parent and grandparent program to all levels of government in Canada could easily exceed $6 billion per year at the present time.  Bringing in the Government´s estimate 165,000 individuals in the backlog and its expected increase in numbers applying to 500,000 by 2020 (including the 165,000) would more than double the fiscal costs from the $6 billion estimated here.  This would represent a significant increase in the claims on Canada´s income support programs, which are already under severe strain from the ageing of the Canadian population.

Many Canadians have trouble understanding the meaning of multi-billion dollar cost estimates. Some illustrative examples of the potential benefits to individual immigrant families can help to put the figures in the perspective of their own household budgets. For instance, an immigrant family that brings in one parent or grandparent might benefit from subsidized health care worth $9,600 per year during the parent´s senior years. The immigrant parent might also get income support worth on average $7,644 ($6,262.24 OAS/GIS plus $1,381.30 other government transfers).  Together, this adds up to a total health and welfare benefit of $17,244 per year, which over a 20-year life time as a senior would equal a rather hefty $344,880. And if an immigrant family were able to bring in all four parents of both the husband and the wife, or perhaps a grandparent if one of the parents can´t come, the total fiscal benefit would equal $1,379,520 over the assumed 20-year post age 65 life of the parents.

The only way to make the parent and grandparent program “sustainable in the future” and to “avoid future large backlogs and be sensitive to fiscal constraints,” the objectives specified by the Government in its press release announcing the consultations, is to drastically pare the numbers of parents and grandparents admitted and/or to shift the costs of the income support of the parents and grandparents and their health care back on to the shoulders of their sponsors where it belongs.  Specifically, the sponsors must be made personally responsible for the support and health care of their parents and grandparents by requiring them to purchase life annuities for their parents and grandparents that provide a minimum level of lifetime income support and also to buy health insurance, perhaps from a special risk pool established by the Government for that purpose to help ensure coverage. This will eliminate the large subsidy from Canadian taxpayers to the parents and grandparents of immigrants admitted to Canada.

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