Or – and this is most likely the truth – the Conservative Party has no understanding of what its position on immigration is, whether Canada needs it at all, and if so, in what form, volume, and under what conditions. Which is, generally speaking, quite strange, since every party should have a clear program on the main aspects of public life before starting to compete for power.
Moreover, the Conservative government came to power in 2006, and five years is a perfectly sufficient period to develop a line on this issue and build a working system. For now, it looks like there is no line at all, only good intentions and a series of experiments that lead to nothing good.
Let me remind you that as of today, the acceptance of applications under the federal Skilled Worker program, which just a few years ago provided Canada with the majority of its skilled immigrants, is extremely limited. Although this program is formally considered active, the conditions for accepting applications under it are such that by the end of October, only 2,500 applications had been accepted for the most in-demand specialties, two of which have already reached their limit. So it is safe to say that the total number of accepted applications by July 2012 is unlikely to exceed 5,000. It should be kept in mind that the fact an application is accepted for review does not automatically mean a positive decision on the immigration case. During the process of studying and verifying the submitted documents, some applicants will be refused.
Most importantly, the stated goals – that thanks to the new selection procedures and limited list of accepted occupations, the review of submitted applications would be conducted in a short time frame – have remained good intentions. Personally, I have the feeling that applications at the embassies have stopped being processed altogether. At least, the Moscow embassy, which a few years ago was a model of efficient work and which we held up as an example to everyone, has seemed paralyzed since the summer of 2010.
The same applies to the federal business programs. For the Investor program, the most popular business category program, a limit of 700 applications was set. This limit was reached in 2 days (!). Another business-class program, Entrepreneur (in my opinion, the most useful program for Canada), was closed for revision at the end of June 2011, and as of the end of October 2011, there is no sign that it will be reopened soon. Again, the processing times for these applications have become completely different from what they were just 3-4 years ago.
Overall, it seems that the Conservatives are trying to harness a horse and a trembling doe to the same cart – that is, they are trying to change the principles of immigration selection without touching the existing system of relations. For example, they have set a course for stricter control to prevent fraud in immigration processing and centralization of the preliminary selection of applications submitted for immigration to Canada, which materialized in the creation of the Centralized Intake Office in Sydney. The idea itself is good, but then I personally find it difficult to understand the reasons for winding down federal programs and transferring the selection of immigrants to the provinces. Such fragmentation leads to a loss of control, as at the provincial level there are far more opportunities to circumvent the law and interpret the rules arbitrarily. In particular, the problem with fake job invitations is largely caused precisely by the lack of federal control and the transfer of selection functions to the provincial level. Another example that speaks for itself is the scandal with the investor program of the province of Prince Edward Island, which is worth discussing in more detail.
In September 2011, a major scandal erupted in Canada related to the work of Canadian immigration authorities. It concerns the investor program of Prince Edward Island (PEI). The management of this program is accused of taking bribes from investor applicants from China in exchange for positive decisions on their applications.
In addition, the provincial government is accused of unfairly distributing the funds obtained from this program among businesses in the province. A significant portion of the investor money was allocated to companies owned by members of the PEI government or their families. At the same time, many local companies that were on the list of recipients of funds from the investor immigration program did not receive this money.
Problems in the management (or rather, abuse) of the PEI provincial immigration program have existed for a long time. They were so serious that in 2008, the federal government decided to temporarily close the island's investor program. Then the story gets more interesting. Knowing that the federal government was going to close the investor program, the province's immigration officials tried to rush as many applicants through it as possible. They managed to hurriedly push through 2,000 applicants.
As a result of the influx of investors, the island received $400 million in investments (which accounts for almost a third of the entire provincial budget). Yet to this day, no information has been published about where this money went. The case has been handed over for investigation to the Canadian police, the federal government, and the Canada Border Services Agency.
When something like this happens in a country like Russia, it is unlikely to surprise anyone. However, for Canada, this situation is extraordinary. Nevertheless, it shows very well what happens when decision-making is taken out of federal control and left to local authorities. Most importantly, it is completely unclear what the government's goal is when it closes well-proven federal programs and leaves the selection of immigrants to the provinces, thereby worsening the quality of accepted immigrants.
To be continued.
Elena RYABININA.
«Russian Toronto»