The major Federal Parties in Canada support immigration in their election campaign of 2021. Canada accepts and welcomes immigrants to settle in Canada. The current Liberal government, despite the pandemic and economic pull-down, has raised the immigration target to 4 million in the coming three years. In addition, the government has assured to settle 20,000 Afghan refugees. The immigration system faces setbacks due to outdated technology, backlog in processing applications, the Parent and Grandparent Immigration Program (PGP). The unresolved issues also cause worry to all the parties.
Book Your Consultation TodayListed here is the election portfolio for immigration of the four major parties in Canada.
Liberal Party
Justin Trudeau is the leader of the Liberal Party, considered centre-left on the political platform.
The Liberal Party has not released its immigration policy for the 2021 election. However, Justin Trudeau has always been welcoming immigrants in his election campaigns. For example, he voiced his support to accept 25000 Syrian refugees in 2015 and won the election. Currently, he promises to take in 20000 Afghan refugees if he wins the election.
The immigration targets have seen an increase since the Liberals came to power in 2015. Moreover, they promise an increase in immigration levels even during this pandemic. Services provided by the immigrants to Canada’s society serve as a justification for this increase.
The Liberal Party spokesperson Brook Simpson says that the contributions of immigrants – teaching, opening new businesses, providing employment, caring for the sick – are more than needed now to recover from the effects of the pandemic and revive the economy.
Marco Mendicino, the immigration minister, calls for the modernization of the immigration system. Progress is being made in this direction. For example, some of the paper-based Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) are now digitalized.
The liberals have launched various initiatives to support immigration. For example, Trudeau promises to make housing affordable to newcomer immigrants.
In 2017, they launched the Multi-Year Immigration Level Plans. This plan allows the stakeholders ample time to prepare for a more significant number of immigrants.
They introduced the Global Talent Stream in 2017. This program fast-tracks work permits for tech professionals.
The Atlantic Pilot Program enables Atlantic regions to hire talented foreign workers. The Rural and Northern Immigration program allow municipalities to nominate immigrants. The Agri-Food Pilot Program targets the immigration of agri-food workers.
Conservative Party
The center-right Conservative Party is the official opposition with the second-most seats in the House of Commons. However, Erin Toole, the leader of the party, has won elections based on immigration campaigns.
In their 2021 election campaign, the Conservatives call for immigration programs that welcome international talent and reunite families. In addition, the programs would offer refuge to those fleeing persecution and human rights activists.
They want to streamline the application process and use resources to their full potential. They want to speed up the process by reducing red tape. They want the applicant to pay for expediting the process. They also propose using the revenues earned in hiring staff to cope with the current administrative backlog.
The Conservatives want to bring more fairness to the immigration process. Therefore, they demand the recording of all interactions between the applicant and the immigration officer. For them, this would ensure justice and accountability of the system.
They want to introduce cultural awareness training so that the immigration officers can understand the cultural background of the applicants. Additionally, they want to allow the applicants to correct the errors in the application within a stipulated time after submission.
The Conservative’s campaign promises to launch a Credential Recognition Task Force to improve the process of credential recognition.
The Conservatives want to introduce a first-come, first-serve model for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP). They want to discard the existing lottery system. Instead, applicants in family support or child care and with language proficiency will earn more points.
The Conservatives plan to allow foreign national family members of Canadians to live in the country for five years without permanent resident status. They can renew their stay for further periods on purchase of health insurance.
Bloc Quebecois
The Bloc Quebecois is a National Party of Quebec. This centre-left party wing has the sovereignty of Quebec as their agenda. Yves-Francois Blanchet has been the leader of this party since 2019.
The Bloc’s immigration campaign for election 2021 wants to speed up the immigration process for applicants from Quebec as this takes longer than other provinces.
Quebec has an independent immigration program. But they want control over the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to speed up the hiring of more workers.
They want Federal Government to use anonymous resumes to curb discrimination in the recruitment for public service positions.
The campaign wants Canada to withdraw the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US to end unauthorized crossings at the Canada-US border.
They want all French-speaking refugees to resettle in Quebec. They also want to offer tax credits to graduates and immigrants who wish to stay outside the urban areas.
The Bloc wants to model a unique “Multiculturism Act.” They feel that the present act prevents new immigrants from integrating into Quebec society.
Get Express Entry to CanadaNew Democratic Party
Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), is a trendy figure. However, the NDP, left-wing on the political platform, has never been in power at the Federal level.
The NDP’s election 2021 campaign promises to clear backlogs, work with provinces to improve settlement services, speed up foreign credential recognition, and withdraw obstacles to the Parents and Grandparents programs (PGP).
They promise to ensure a regulated immigration process that will eliminate unscrupulous immigration agents. Second, they will provide residency status for caregivers and their families. Finally, they will clear the backlog of asylum seekers.
To know more about your options for Canadian immigration, you can drop us a line at info@immilawimmigration.com. Alternatively, you can also give us a call at 613-507-5757. Our counsellors will schedule a consultation for you with one of our immigration lawyers.
