SETTLEMENT I M M I G R AT I O N L AW
The election and Canadian immigration
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What does the Liberals’ election win mean for immigration?
n September 20, 2021, Canada had its 44th parliamentary election. The results leave the composition of Canada’s House of Commons essentially unchanged from before. As of September 21, 2021, the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has again won a minority government with 32 per cent of the vote and 158 seats, 12 short of the required 170 needed for a majority. This means that the Liberals do not have enough seats in the House of Commons to unilaterally pass legislation and must collaborate with the other parties. The Conservative Party of Canada won 34 per cent of the votes and 119 seats. The Bloc Québécois won 8 per cent of the vote and 34 seats. The New Democratic Party won 18 per cent of the vote and 25 seats. The Green Party of Canada won 2 per cent of the vote and 2 seats. The Liberals can pass immigration legislation as long as they have the support of either the Conservatives, the Bloc or the NDP. They do not have to commit to one party and can pick and choose which party they get support from depending on the specific change they are proposing. It is accordingly worth understanding these parties’ immigration the purchase is confirmed to be for future employment or immigration. campaigns.
interactions between officers and applicants be recorded. They hoped to use remote interview technology to match applicants with visa officers who understand an applicant’s cultural context and background. They would have created a weighted lottery in the Parent and Grandparent Program to give preference to those who would either be providing childcare or have English/French language ability and expanded the super-visa from two years to five. They wanted to provide a pathway to permanent residence for all foreign workers and created a trusted employer regime for foreign workers.
While the Liberal immigration platform was not particularly ambitious, the actual policies that they implemented during the last Parliament were. The Liberals created a special immigration pathway program for up to 90,000 essential workers and recent graduates and introduced electronic application processes for most immigration streams. In Budget 2021, they dedicated almost $430 million to implementing an enterprise-wide digital platform that would gradually replace Immigration, Refugees and Regarding refugees, the Conservatives The Liberals also plan on establishing a Citizenship Canada (IRCC)’s current Global wanted to increase capacity at the Immigration trusted employer system to streamline foreign Case Management System. and Refugee Board to reduce hearing wait worker applications, expand the Global Talent It is probably reasonable to expect more of times and essentially replace the Government Stream and maintain its two-week processing standard. They will support Francophone the same, which recently has actually been Assisted Refugee program with private and joint refugee sponsorship programs. The immigration outside of Quebec and create quite a lot, and not that predictable. Conservatives promised to “close the loophole” pathways to permanent residence for foreign in the Safe Third Country Agreement so that workers and international students through The Conservative Party of Canada The Conservatives promised to end IRCC’s those who cross irregularly from the United Express Entry. They also committed to current practice of returning applications for States into Canada can be returned there. resettling 40,000 Afghan refugees. being incomplete, and instead require that Finally, the Conservatives wanted to ban Finally, related to immigration, the Liberals the department provide applicants with an said that they would ban foreign money from opportunity to provide missing documentation. foreign investors not living in or moving to purchasing a non-recreational, residential They wanted to allow applicants to pay a fee to Canada from buying homes in Canada for a property in Canada for two years, unless have their files expedited and require that all two-year period.
The Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberals said that if re-elected they would abolish citizenship application processing fees, which are currently $630 per adult and $100 per child. They also committed to reducing processing times that have been impacted by COVID-19 and creating a visitor visa program for the spouses of Canadians who wish to visit their partners while their spousal sponsorship applications are in process.
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CANADIAN IMMIGRANT Volume 18 Issue 5 | 2021
