globeandmail.com : Bevilacqua proposes 'expansionist' policy to boost immigration

CAMPBELL CLARK

OTTAWA -- Canada needs to double the flow of immigrants into the country to build up its population and drive economic growth, Liberal leadership candidate Maurizio Bevilacqua said yesterday.

In a bold proposal to throw open the doors to the country, Mr. Bevilacqua proposed that Canada expand its immigration system beyond filling holes in the labour market, bringing in far more foreign relatives of Canadians to expand the population.

His proposal calls for Canada to increase its immigration rate immediately to 1 per cent of the population, or about 325,000 people, rather than the roughly 240,000 a year it brings in now. By 2016, he would increase immigration to 1.5 per cent of the population, which would be about 490,000 people a year based on the current population.

"We can't be timid," Mr. Bevilacqua said in an interview yesterday. "I have very much an expansionist view of Canada."


globeandmail.com : Bevilacqua proposes 'expansionist' policy to boost immigration

London Free Press - Local News - City the pick of new citizens

City the pick of new citizens

Mon, June 19, 2006

London leads Ontario in the number of immigrants deciding to stay here.

By NORMAN DE BONO, FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER



London is holding on to more immigrants than ever before -- and leading the province in the number of new Canadians staying here.

The numbers are a sure sign that they're finding jobs here. It also translates to a larger pool of employees to attract potential new businesses, John Kime, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp. (LEDC), said yesterday.

Figures from Citizenship and Immigration Canada show the number of new arrivals moving to and staying in London jumped 38 per cent in 2005 over 2004. That's the highest total in Ontario and fourth-highest in the country.

London Free Press - Local News - City the pick of new citizens

Town hospital at risk in immigration battle

Richard Warnica, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, May 30, 2006
EDMONTON - An eastern Alberta town could be forced to temporarily shutter its hospital this summer if a doctor fed up with Canada's immigration system decides to go home.

Dr. Andre Louw has been in Canada for six years, but he still can't get status as a landed immigrant. If his case isn't resolved soon, he says, he'll return to South Africa -- leaving Vermilion with just one family doctor.

And if Louw leaves, the town, which is already short at least three doctors, will be forced to close its hospital, at least until a replacement is found, said Dr. Odell Olson, vice-president of medical services for the East Central Health region.

"It's a critical shortage (of doctors) now," Olson said. "If Dr. Louw leaves, it's past critical."


Town hospital at risk in immigration battle

globeandmail.com : 100,000 grandparents and parents in immigration backlog

100,000 grandparents and parents in immigration backlog
MARINA JIMENEZ

Globe and Mail Update

Canada's Immigration Department illegally discriminated against people who applied to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada, causing waits to escalate to as long as a decade, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Currently, documents filed with the lawsuit say, 100,000 parent and grandparent sponsorship cases are in the backlog and applicants are charged a $550 processing fee in advance, even though the files might not be opened for two years, and might not be processed for many more.

Lorne Waldman, the Toronto immigration lawyer who initiated the lawsuit, says the government has no legal right to discriminate against a certain kind of immigration applicant.

Documents obtained under the Access to Information Act show that the Immigration Department deliberately “managed downward” the target for parents and grandparents, the lawsuit says. Ottawa dramatically reduced the Mississauga immigration office's resources to process parent and grandparent applications, and established quotas in offices overseas to restrict the number of visas to parents and grandparents. This plan was not made public, and the lawsuit alleges that the Immigration Department “made efforts to conceal the true state of the backlog and delay.”


globeandmail.com : 100,000 grandparents and parents in immigration backlog