Canada's Auditor General Sheila Fraser criticizes government immigration policy
The role of the Auditor General in Canadian public life
Now about who Sheila Fraser is and what role the position of Auditor General plays in the life of the country. It is worth recalling that Canada was long a dominion of Great Britain (that is, a state under the control of the mother country). After proclaiming independence, Canada began to determine its own policy, but its constitution retained a provision that the head of state is the British monarch. In this regard, a number of positions related to the Canadian parliamentary system, modeled on the British system, were retained, and appointments to them are made by the British monarch or his appointed representatives. Such a system allows the country to have independent officials who are not subordinate to the Canadian government and parliament.
The top in the hierarchy of officials independent of the government and parliament is the Governor General, appointed by the British monarch on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada. Despite the seemingly ceremonial nature of this position, it is in fact the highest authority in resolving serious disagreements and problems that arise. In particular, at the end of 2008, when a constitutional crisis arose in Canada as a result of the formation of a coalition of parliamentary parties that decided to oust the Conservative government, the final word in this dispute was said by Governor General Michaëlle Jean. She sent parliament on an early recess, giving the parties time to reconsider their positions and plans.
The Auditor General is also a creation of the monarchical system. He is appointed by the Governor General of Canada for a term of 10 years, and his task is to conduct an independent assessment of the activities of both the government as a whole and the work of its individual ministries. The results of the investigation into the state of affairs in a particular area are reported to parliament, so that members of parliament can get a clear picture of the results of a particular ministry's activities, take note of them, and if possible take measures to correct the noted shortcomings.
As for Sheila Fraser, she is considered the best Auditor General in the entire history of the position, she ranks 66th on the list of most prominent Canadians. That is, she is a person with very high authority, whose opinion is carefully listened to. The fact that she presented such a devastating report on the state of affairs in the immigration sphere is a big blow to the Conservative Party, which was trying to position itself as a driver of positive changes in this area. At least, it initially seemed that the Conservatives were paying great attention to the immigration issue, and they made it clear that they intended to bring order and correct the shortcomings that had accumulated in this sphere. In reality, everything turned out exactly the opposite, and Fraser's report is further confirmation of that.
The situation with temporary workers
The main thing that worries Sheila Fraser is the situation with temporary workers. It is noted that recently the practice of uncontrolled issuance of work permits has become widespread, leading to large-scale abuses in this area.
On the one hand, cases of outright fraud have become more frequent, where for money, invitations to work were issued for companies that simply did not exist. Persons who received a work visa to Canada based on such invitations arrived and ended up with nothing, as they were left without a means of subsistence.
According to Canadian laws, a foreign worker who arrives on a work visa is obliged to work for the company that invited him. If he is denied the previously offered position or is fired (or the company ceases to exist), that worker is not allowed to work anywhere else. If he finds a new job, he must reapply for a work permit and work visa. If no new job is found and no work visa is issued, he must leave Canada.
On the other hand, there is a situation where unskilled labor is brought into Canada en masse on work visas, becoming victims of exploitation and inhumane treatment. Among these workers, many speak little English, do not know their rights, and are completely dependent on their employer. As a result, they are forced to endure poor treatment, live in extremely cramped conditions, and receive wages far below the official minimum standard in Canada. Especially many such cases are noted among those who entered Canada under the live-in caregivers program (that is, caregivers with permanent residence).
The problem is compounded by the fact that through programs to attract temporary workers from abroad, a flow of low-skilled labor has poured into Canada. Its presence is undoubtedly beneficial to employers, as it allows them to reduce their costs for wages and social security. In particular, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Kenny, speaking before parliament (House of Commons), noted that tens of thousands of employers would not be able to do business without this program, as there are no workers they could hire.
True, in connection with this statement, one wants to ask Mr. Minister whether he really believes what he says. Given that the average unemployment rate in the country is over 8.5%, and as a rule, workers of extremely low qualification are required (i.e., anyone can do this job), the claim that tens of thousands of employers cannot find workers in Canada seems not entirely justified. The only explanation for such a phenomenon can be that employers want to pay salaries that no Canadian is willing to accept. In other words, it is about attracting disenfranchised low-paid labor from abroad while simultaneously eliminating job positions from the Canadian labor market, which can hardly be called concern for the rise of Canada's economy.
Most importantly, under the Conservatives, Canada has followed the path that Europe already took in the second half of the twentieth century, and which became a trap for it. By attracting low-skilled workers from abroad to perform low-paid dirty work, Canada is accumulating on its territory a large number of people without permanent resident status, who do not want to leave Canada. On the one hand, there are no procedures in the country for legalizing temporary foreign workers – all that these workers must do upon expiration of their work visas is leave Canada. They have no chance of legalization and obtaining permanent resident status, as there are no immigration programs that could grant that coveted status to these people. On the other hand, the state has no control over these people; no one monitors whether they have left the country, where they are, what they are doing, and so on. As a result, a large number of persons illegally present in Canada accumulate in the country. And this is a direct path to exacerbating the criminal situation and future social unrest.
At least, the fact that this Conservative policy is flawed is being widely discussed and written about lately, and the Conservatives will clearly have to do something about it. Although they have recently put forward a number of initiatives to control the issuance of work visas, these measures are clearly insufficient. It is obvious that the approach to this issue needs a radical change, and the conclusions of the Fraser report unequivocally indicate this.
On the state of affairs with the Skilled Workers program
The government of Stephen Harper also came under fire on the issue of admitting immigrants under the skilled worker program. The report noted that the course towards a significant reduction in the admission of immigrants under the federal Skilled Workers program in favor of increasing admissions under provincial programs is extremely ill-conceived, carried out without proper study and analysis, and changes the qualitative composition of immigrants for the worse.
Special criticism was leveled at the changes in the introduction of a list of priority occupations (the so-called "List 38"). According to Sheila Fraser, there is no evidence that these innovations were made based on any analysis, nor is there evidence of the need for such changes. The consequences that these innovations were supposed to bring were also completely uncalculated. As noted in the report, all these changes brought no improvement, completely failed to achieve the stated goals, and only led to large financial losses.
In particular, it was noted that the 300 million dollars spent over the last 10 years on updating the information system of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration did not reduce the backlog of applications, which remained at 620,000 unprocessed applications. It also did not reduce the processing time for applications – the average processing time for immigration applications continues to be 63 months.
Moreover, due to the introduction of the list of priority occupations, 45,000 applicants have already been denied consideration, and their paid government processing fees have been refunded, amounting to many millions of dollars.
It was also noted that reducing the number of occupations from 351 to 38 for which immigrants are accepted under the federal Skilled Worker program does not serve Canada's interests. As for the fact that more and more authority for selecting immigrants is being transferred to the provinces, it is noted that the provinces apply clearly lower standards in selecting immigrants, thereby lowering the quality of those who come to Canada.
Fraser noted that provincial programs should be reviewed. Particularly alarming is that the provinces have virtually no control over which immigrants who came through provincial programs actually settle in that province and whether they remain there.
What can be expected
Sheila Fraser in her report noted what I have been writing about for all the recent years: the Conservative immigration policy is completely ill-conceived and is leading the country in the wrong direction.
This concerns the notorious "List 38", which is completely out of touch with reality and blocks the road to Canada for a large number of specialists who actually have a good chance of successfully settling after arrival, as evidenced by the experience of previous years when all 351 occupations were accepted.
This also concerns the emphasis on provincial programs with a reduction in immigrant intake under the federal Skilled Worker program, which results in much less prepared individuals and much less qualified specialists coming to Canada. Despite the fact that the federal program makes it possible to select the truly best and ensure thorough background checks, the reduction of this program is at least bewildering. Most importantly, the lack of effective mechanisms to oblige immigrants accepted under provincial programs to stay in that province and live there for at least a few years completely defeats the purpose of these programs.
Also unclear is the idea of introducing an additional stage of pre-screening applications at a center in Sydney (Canada). As practice shows, it has not led to any reduction in processing times; on the contrary, it has only lengthened them. Most importantly, the embassy still carries out work to assess whether applicants meet the requirements of the priority occupations list. It seems that this is a completely useless body on which considerable money has been spent.
That is, it is already obvious that the crisis in immigration is only gaining momentum, and very soon the accumulating problems will have to be solved somehow. As I personally see it, changes must be radical, and the best thing to do would be to cancel the innovations of Stephen Harper's government and return to the original positions on many points, winding down provincial programs and placing the main emphasis on existing federal ones.
The problem, however, is that it is unlikely that the Conservative Party will admit its mistakes. At least, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Kenny continues to defend all previous actions of his ministry, insisting on being right. It seems that as long as there is no threat of the Conservative Party being removed from power on the horizon, they will not voluntarily make serious changes. At the moment, there is no such threat for them. The Liberal Party, after the indecisive actions and collaborationism of its leader Michael Ignatieff, has sharply lost the popularity it gained in early 2009, and now cannot compete with the party led by Stephen Harper.
Nevertheless, there is hope that the report by Sheila Fraser, which received wide coverage in the Canadian press and caused a great resonance in Canadian society, will still force the Harper government to take at least some steps in the right direction. In particular, there are hopes that the list of priority occupations will be significantly expanded, which would be a logical step that everyone has been waiting for.
If we rely on past practice, then in the period from late November to late December 2009, announcements of new initiatives from the Canadian Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration can be expected. At least, I assume that statements about changes in Canadian immigration policy may be made at that time.
For now, it has been announced that in 2010, roughly the same number of immigrants is planned to be accepted as in the current year, that is, between 240,000 and 265,000 people. At the same time, the quota for those under the Family class (family sponsorship) has been increased by 8,000 people. For the economic class, which includes the Skilled Workers category, business categories (Investors and Entrepreneurs), and those under the live-in caregivers program, a quota of 166,800 immigration visas has been allocated.
Be that as it may, voices in Canadian society are growing louder and louder that the Conservative immigration policy is leading the country in the wrong direction, and that serious changes are needed. As a rule, this always leads to such changes coming. Let us hope that we do not have to wait long for them.
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Elena Ryabinina.
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