IMMIGRATION AND THE ELECTION

Summary of political parties position on immigration published by the Vancouver Sun.

Canada's three major parties on immigration:

Vancouver SunApril 23, 2011


CONSERVATIVES

. The Conservative government recently announced that 280,636 immigrants came to Canada in 2010, emphasizing that number was the highest in 57 years.

. The Conservative government passed a bill that would accelerate the process for expelling false refugee claimants, and has introduced legislation to intern claimants who arrive en masse.

. The Conservatives cut $53 million from immigrant and refugee-settlement programs in December 2010, mostly in Ontario. Conservative leader Stephen Harper announced $6 million for immigrant-training programs this month.

LIBERALS

. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Canada's future economic success "turns" on immigration. "Immigrants are finding it tougher to get ahead. We've got to have language training as long as you need it. We need to have integration services as long as you need it."

. Ignatieff said he would reverse what he called a 15-per-cent cut in family reunification visas, and the 25-per-cent cut to those for parents and grandparents.

"Why are you going to come to Canada if you can't bring your family?" said Ignatieff, who noted his father came to Canada from Russia.

. Ignatieff called for a "fairness commissioner" in Ottawa who would check on professional organizations -such as those representing doctors, engineers and pharmacists -to make sure they are not discriminating against immigrants.

NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY

. NDP leader Jack Layton says: "One of the most disturbing aspects of what the Harper government is doing is that they're encouraging more and more people to come here as temporary foreign workers . What we're seeing is more and more of this focus on the immigrant as some kind of an economic unit."

. The NDP promises to stop the decline in family reunification under Canada's immigration system, and to work to meet the target of allowing immigration to reach one per cent of the population per year.

. The NDP promises to implement an appeal division under the Immigration Act -to give refugee claimants an opportunity to have decisions quickly reviewed, without having to go through the lengthy process of applying to the Federal Court of Canada.