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WHERE REFORMS LED CANADA
Business Programs
Most importantly, the Conservatives offered nothing adequate in return. In fact, there are no business programs at the federal level in Canada.
The Start-Up Visa business program, introduced in April 2013 and announced with great fanfare by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, turned out to be as ineffective an innovation as the vast majority of other initiatives of former immigration minister Mr. Jason Kenney. This program has an annual quota of 2,750 immigration visas per year. However, over the past two years, only 16 applicants have received a positive decision, and another 60 applicants are at various stages of processing.
The main reason this program is not working is the lack of interest from investment funds that select projects. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration is taking no action to rectify the situation.
Another program, the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program, introduced in December 2014, raised questions from the start because the eligibility requirements seem excessively high. Moreover, it has an annual quota of only 60 immigration visas, which is nothing compared to the closed Investor program. In practice, even this quota was not met – as of the end of July 2015, only 6 applications had been submitted.
So, to call a spade a spade, there are no business programs at the federal level in Canada. And this despite the fact that attracting investors and entrepreneurs is a growing trend worldwide. Therefore, I cannot describe the current situation with business programs as anything other than a failure of Conservative policy.
Family Sponsorship
What the Conservatives can boast about is the introduction of the super visa for parents. That was a truly useful decision, although even on this issue the Conservatives only took half-measures.
Specifically, if parents could freely work in Canada by receiving an open work permit along with the super visa, it could become a real alternative to family sponsorship – which was the very purpose of introducing the super visa. For now, the super visa looks like a half-measure. And I repeat, this is one of the few things the Conservatives can boast about in the immigration sphere.
Otherwise, there are no particular positive changes in the area of family sponsorship. Processing times for family sponsorship of parents have lengthened, and applications for this program are limited. Even in spousal sponsorship, refusals are not uncommon, and according to press reports, processing times have stretched from the previous few months to a year and a half.
Entry Visas
Another successful step by the Conservatives in immigration was the decision to issue multiple-entry visas valid for several years, with processing times reduced to a few days. However, the problem of entry visa refusals remains unresolved, which diminishes the value of both multiple-entry visas and the shortened processing times. Moreover, in my perception, the number of entry visa refusals has even increased recently.
At one time, the Conservatives promised to solve the refugee problem, arguing that new measures would ease the entry regime into Canada. It is no secret that a major problem for Canada is the government's inability to remove individuals who are in Canada illegally, and even more so to remove those who apply for refugee status.
To protect itself from potential refugees, Canada prefers not to grant entry visas to anyone who is even slightly suspected of staying in Canada. As a result, Canada has gained a reputation as one of the most difficult countries to obtain an entry visa, which is generally abnormal and indicates problems in the Canadian system that need to be addressed.
Despite the fact that the Conservatives carefully cultivated an image as uncompromising fighters against all types of fraud and abuse of the system, at the very least they were expected to create a system for removing individuals who applied for refugee status without grounds. But the Conservatives even managed to show their inability to solve problems in this matter.
As a result, the situation with obtaining entry visas has remained the same as before – not everyone planning to go to Canada can expect to get an entry visa. This looks especially strange when people are going to study at colleges or universities, have been accepted, have paid tuition, and are then refused.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, what is listed above is only part of where the Conservatives have failed and shown their inability to solve problems. Most importantly, there is no longer hope that they can fix anything.
For now, it must be stated that the immigration system in its current form has shown its inadequacy and requires changes. On the positive side, the situation can be corrected fairly quickly by revoking a number of innovations and returning to what worked before, updating and bringing it in line with current requirements. If there is a will.
What is the likelihood of this happening? It will all depend on the results of the October 19 election. For now, the chances of the Conservatives remaining in power are very slim. But even if they win the election, they will no longer be a majority party, so the other two parties will dictate the terms. If the Liberals or New Democrats come to power, then changes in immigration are virtually guaranteed.
Therefore I express cautious optimism: whoever comes to power, they will have to deal with immigration, because the system is currently working extremely inefficiently. In fact, we have hit rock bottom on this issue. And whoever comes to power, they will have to fix the system – that is, in any case, we must wait for improvements.