Immigration Amendment Opposed

Canadian Members of Parliament are being urged by Canadians and by other politicians to vote against to proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The main concern is that the Conservative party is seeking to much power to close applications that are deemed inconsistent with present labour market requirements. The amendments propose to allow the Immigration Minister to cap the number of applicants in the immigration backlogs and would be able to refuse an application which had already been approved. The Immigration Minister could also make decisions about immigration policy that, under the current system, require regulatory changes.

One Member of Parliament, Olivia Chow, has promised to introduce an amendment to have the immigration proposals removed from the proposed bill. Other groups presently mounting opposition to the amendments include the Chinese Canadian National Council and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.