It is difficult to say what caused this step. Many observers agree that the main goal of the reshuffle was the desire to replace the Minister of the Environment. The fact is that recently the topic of ecology has become one of the main issues in Canadian society. Apparently, the active educational activities of environmental activists and the unusually warm winter played a role, which caused growing concern among Canadian citizens. The passive attitude of the government and the Conservative Party to this issue looked negative. Stephen Harper decided to show that environmental protection is as important for his party as for other political associations. However, it is still unclear why other changes occurred along with the change of the Minister of the Environment.
And one can already say that this will negatively affect the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration of Canada. If only because the new minister will need several months to understand the work of the department entrusted to her. Monte Solberg, appointed to this position less than a year ago, spent several months getting up to speed with the ministry's affairs. His transfer to another position does not mean that he was doing a poor job; otherwise he would have been removed from the cabinet altogether. The same applies to Diane Finley. Therefore, the reshuffle looks completely illogical.
Judging by her education and previous occupations, Diane Finley is an expert in administrative matters. Her professional activities mainly concerned healthcare and agriculture, which are very far from immigration issues. She grew up in a small town in Ontario, and currently lives in the small town of Simcoe in the same province. Unlike such megacities as Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, where a significant part of the population consists of recent immigrants, the towns of Ontario are mainly populated by people whose ancestors have lived there for many generations. That is, they are what are called native Canadians, and they have a very superficial understanding of the problems of immigrants.
What can be expected from the new minister? Apparently, there will be no radical decisions until the end of spring, since Finley, as we already mentioned, will need time to understand the affairs of the ministry. And it, unfortunately, did not work better under Solberg's leadership; rather the opposite. For example, the simplified procedure for submitting immigration applications that he introduced increased the processing times for documents even at those embassies where they were acceptable. The Canadian Embassy in Kiev already warns all applicants using the simplified procedure that the waiting time will be 45-51 months (until the fall of 2006, the entire process from application to visa in Kiev took on average a year and a half). In addition, only four months are given to provide the requested documents from the embassy, which is clearly not enough (initially it was about six months). It can be assumed that the "problem of timelines" should become Finley's main focus. But will she be able to do anything about it, given the unsuccessful experience of her predecessors?
Here it is worth noting the following point. Currently, Harper's cabinet has a very precarious position, and it is possible that new elections will be called this year. There are very serious doubts that the Conservative Party will be able to win them again. These doubts are shared even by members of the party itself. It can be assumed that in the near future the main concern of the Conservatives will be the struggle for votes.
To summarize this information: First, it is hardly worth expecting decisive steps from the new minister, especially in the direction of tightening immigration conditions. The position of Harper's cabinet is such that it currently has no resources to pursue a hard line. Second, given Finley's experience as Minister of Human Resources and Social Development of Canada, one should expect some measures to attract specialists in demanded professions and, conversely, restrictions for those who find it difficult to settle in Canada. Perhaps this will not affect immigrants, but will result in measures to develop a system for attracting workers through temporary work visas. But this will be possible if Ms. Finley remains in her post for at least six months.
However, most likely, Diane Finley is a temporary figure in the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration of Canada. Given the possibility of new elections, her appointment looks more like a cosmetic reshuffle ahead of serious changes.
Elena Ryabinina. 