Media Statement: Immigration Levels Plan

NDP Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Critic Jenny Kwan Responds to Immigration Levels Plan Announcement:
 
The Liberals have made a complete mess of our immigration system, and now, they are proposing changes just for show.  Let me be clear, migrants did not create Canada's housing crisis.  It's the result of failed housing policies of successive Conservative and Liberal governments. 
 
The Prime Minister thinks that scapegoating newcomers will somehow turn his political fortunes around, the truth is, it won’t.  During the last 9 years, the Liberals had every opportunity to change Canada’s immigration system, sadly, they have squandered the chance to do what is necessary to reform the system to be more responsive, efficient and fair.  
 
It was the Conservatives that created the low-wage temporary foreign workers program in 2014 and the Liberals fueled it with its massive expansion.  Not only was the program designed to devalue the contributions of these workers to benefit rich CEOs, it also exposed them to abuse, exploitation, and suppressed wages for Canadians.   
 
Under Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre, immigration has become a funnel of cheap labour to big companies so they can exploit vulnerable workers and pay the lowest wage possible. They allowed International Students to be used as cash cows by certain post-secondary education institutions and provinces. They have created back logs in processing like we have never seen before causing families heartache and suffering as they long to reunite with their loved ones.  They allowed essential workers who risked their lives in support of Canadians to fall out of status during the pandemic.  And at a time when there are more people displaced due to conflict and the climate crisis, the government is cutting humanitarian support.  Their litany of empty promises is a betrayal. 
 
A New Democrat will change that. There is no doubt we need immigration to meet our needs.   It’s time to take balanced approach, and restore what Canada used to have, an immigration system that is compassionate and offered permanent resident status on arrival to a wide range of workers that include both blue and white collar workers, from labourers to skilled and semi-skilled workers, care workers, service industry workers and more.  Newcomers work hard to build a better future for themselves and their family while contributing to Canada's economic, social and cultural fabric.  They deserve to be respected.  
 

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