Canada's election: what will happen to immigration?
On September 20, early parliamentary elections will be held in Canada. I will tell you what each party is proposing and how they feel about emigration.
Have you heard about the Canadian government's plan to accept 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan? Sounds like a decision to me. After all, they will be among the 400,000 new emigrants Canada will give permanent residency to this year. At least, that's what was promised before, but it's quite possible that the plans will change because on September 20, Canada will hold an early parliamentary election.
Political situation
Elections in Canada were due in 2 years, but on August 15, the Prime Minister asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and therefore set early elections for September 20, 2021.
Let me explain a little bit. The head of the Canadian government is the prime minister. The governor general represents in Canada the interests of the British queen, who rules the country.
The current prime minister is Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party, which won the 2015 election. But after the next election in 2019, the Liberal Party is in the minority in parliament, and because of that, for example, in order to pass any legislation, it has to get support from the opposition.
If you believe the polls that various companies are now conducting, many Canadians support the Liberals, especially now that Canada has achieved the highest vaccination rate among developed countries, restrictions are gradually being lifted, and the government is also paying good kovid benefits. Everyone loves a freebie, including Canadians. True, it is unclear where the money for this comes from. It turns out that the party has a chance to win elections and get more seats in parliament.
On the other hand, because of the pandemic, the other parties were not eager to hold elections, but many experts believe that once it was over, they would start actively criticizing the Liberals and if Trudeau had waited until 2023, the opposition might have been in a better position. That's why he decided to hold a new election.
I don't know what percentage of the population actually supports Trudeau, because I see a lot of ads against him on our streets. They even sell stickers on cars that say "Fuck Trudeau".
Opposition
In addition to the Liberal Party, there are several other parties in parliament:
- Conservative Party;
- New Democratic Party (NDP);
- Quebec Block;
- Green Party.
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Looking at the preliminary Canadian media polls, the Liberal Party has the most votes. It is followed by the Conservative Party and the New Democratic Party, while the Quebec Bloc and the Green Party have very few votes.
Liberal Party
If the Liberals win the election, Canada's immigration policy will likely stay the same. Except there may be more refugees. Canada will aim to admit more than 1.2 million immigrants by 2023, continue to launch new programs, help new immigrants, and so on. But there will probably be changes to the Express Entry system. All in all, if the Liberal Party wins, future immigrants have nothing to worry about.
What else do liberals promise:
- to help businesses affected by the pandemic;
- to raise some employees' salaries;
- to make child care services more accessible;
- to improve living conditions in nursing homes;
- to fight climate change, make it easier to buy your first home.
But reality has already shown that the Liberals don't always do what they promise. I remember very well that they promised to abolish fees for applying for Canadian citizenship, but failed to do so. Also, they decided to hold an election when the pandemic wasn't over, which also rings a bell for a lot of people.
Conservative Party
Aside from the Liberal Party, the Conservatives have the best chance of winning, and some even believe that they can actually win. For example, in the provincial elections in Nova Scotia, the Conservatives won, although the Liberals had won three times in a row before that.
The Conservative Party, led by Erin O'Toole, promises:
- to increase financial assistance to small businesses;
- to introduce tax incentives for families with children;
- to overcome the housing crisis;
- to increase the number of jobs;
- to double the workers' benefits.
They too have a fairly loyal policy towards immigrants, but they value professionals more than refugees. This party also promotes immigration to boost Canada's economy.
For example, if they win the election, the Conservatives promise to grant asylum to human rights defenders, speed up the processing of immigration applications for a surcharge, and move the entire immigration process to an online format. The party also said it would abolish the lottery on the reunification program with grandparents' parents. Now, if an immigrant wants to move their parents to Canada, they apply and then the government selects candidates at random. The Conservatives want to process applications on a first-come, first-served basis. And they also promise to issue visas to relatives of Canadian residents for as long as 5 years. All in all, the statements are quite serious.
Incidentally, Canada's previous Prime Minister was Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, it was under him that the Express Entry system and the first immigration pilots for nannies and caregivers were launched, which the current government has already replaced with permanent programs.
The New Democratic Party
The NDP has gone even further and said they will remove restrictions on the family reunification program altogether. They also support regional immigration to Canadian provinces and promise to make it easier for refugees to move.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh also promised to sort out social problems like:
- to increase minimum wages;
- to cancel student loans;
- to introduce a guaranteed income;
- to fight racism;
- increase taxes on the wealthy.
I, as an entrepreneur, do not like these ideas, because it is clear who will pay for the guaranteed income.
Quebec bloc and the Green Party
I don't think it makes sense to talk about them, because they are unlikely to win. The Quebec bloc supports the separation of Quebec from Canada, demands its own system of hiring foreign workers and wants to resettle all French-speaking refugees in Quebec. Well, I don't know how to comment on that. I will say one thing: I'm glad I moved from Quebec to Ontario a year ago.
Conclusions
In general, as far as immigration is concerned, whichever party comes to power is likely to continue to attract immigrants. How good it will be to live in Canada is another question, we'll see after the election.
And I still don't advise procrastinating on moving, because as you get older you will still lose points in many programs, and therefore decrease your chances.
Alex Pavlenko, Founder of Immigrant.Today
