Philippine Asian News Today Vol 18 No 21 | Seite 14

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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY November 1 - 15, 2016

NDP IMMIGRATION CRITIC EXPRESSES DISAPPOINTMENT
WITH LIBERAL GOVERNMENT’S 2017 IMMIGRATION PLAN

Jenny Kwan
Member of Parliament for
Vancouver East
NDP Immigration, Refugee and
Citizenship Critic
OTTAWA
—
NDP
Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship Critic Jenny Kwan,
MP for Vancouver East expressed
her profound disappointment
today on release of the Liberal
Government’s 2017 Immigration
Levels Plan.
“Canadians
support
greater immigration numbers,
not fewer,” said Kwan. “The birth
rate is falling and the population

is aging. That is why Canada’s
strength depends on strong
immigration numbers. Instead,
the Liberals are plowing ahead
with 2017 levels that see a
reduction in total immigration
numbers—fewer, in fact, than
the 320,000 immigrants who
came to Canada last year, and
a far cry from the 1% of total
population—360,000—that
experts and stakeholders asked
for.”
Kwan added: “Canadians
voted for real change yet, the
Liberals are now following the
same path as Conservatives. The
numbers don’t add up with the
Liberals’ rhetoric.”
Other highlights:
1. “Parents
and
grandparents
reunification
numbers remain unchanged.

Families will still need to race to
get their applications in before
the application quota is met,
typically within days. Those who
don’t get it in fast enough are
out of luck, and for the lucky few
who get an application in? Get
ready to wait at least 5-7 years to
see their family reunited.”
2. “The
Government
is significantly scaling back
refugee numbers, including a
70% reduction in governmentassisted refugees. Canada has
an international responsibility to
provide asylum to those fleeing
violence
and
persecution.
Instead, the Government has
decided to download this
important responsibility onto
private sponsors, an especially
troubling move given that
the House of Commons has

unanimously passed a motion
to take immediate steps
to resettle Yazidi victims of
genocide. Experts before the
Parliamentary committee on
Citizenship and Immigration
have pushed Canada to accept
10,000 Yazidi victims. Yet today’s
announcement of 7,500 total
government-sponsored refugees
for 2017 undermines the
Government’s credibility on this
file.”
3. “The Government will
reduce by 4,000 the number of
Live-in Caregiver applications it
accepts. Yet it has also promised
to reduce backlogs and end
obscene processing delays.
So which will it be? Today’s
plan shows that the Liberals,
like Harper’s Conservatives,
will continue treating live-

in caregivers as second-tier
economic immigrants, which
also hurt Canadian families
struggling to acquire accessible
and affordable childcare.”
4. “By deciding against
increasing
funding
for
resettlement
services,
the
Government has chosen to
prevent new Canadians from
succeeding. Immigration is an
exercise in nation-building, one
that depends on newcomers to
Canada being able to access
the vital services they need to
successfully integrate—services
such as language training,
credential recognition, and skills
training and upgrading. This plan
is not what new Canadians—and
Canada—need.”

Philippines eyes Canada model of
federal, parliamentary government

Philippine
Ambassador
to Canada Petronila P. Garcia
accompanied Deputy Cabinet
Secretary Peter Tiu Laviña to
Parliament Hill in Ottawa for a
series of meetings with senior
members of the Senate and
the House of Commons of
Canada’s Parliament.
They exchanged brief
pleasantries with Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
who was attending the session
of the House of Commons of
Canada’s parliament.
Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau was a recent visitor to
Manila for the APEC Economic
Leaders Summit hosted by the
Philippines late last year.
In a meeting hosted
by Deputy Speaker Bruce
Stanton, MP, Laviña expressed
the interest of the Philippine
Government to learn from
Canada’s experiences in its
federal system of government
and parliamentary form of
democratic governance.
Stanton conveyed the
willingness of Canada to
engage Philippine officials and
parliamentarians in a discussion
on these issues.
A lively and fruitful
discussion
on
PhilippineCanadian relations subsequently
took place with Stanton who
was joined by Filipino-Canadian
Senator Tobias Enverga, Jr.,
Senator Don Meredith; Harold
Albrecht, MP; Kevin Lamoureux,
MP; Larry Maguire, MP; Dean
Allison, MP; and Robert Sopuck,
MP.
Most of the Canadian
parliamentarians in attendance
had significant numbers of
Fi