COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – Immigration flip flop too little too late

Down in the polls, a carbon tax election around the corner, Justin Trudeau suddenly admitted last week that his reckless, and uncontrolled immigration policies are partly to blame for joblessness, housing, and health care crises facing Canadians.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller also admitted their polices and failures have caused the system to run “out of control”.

The Trudeau Liberals increased population growth by over 200 percent over the last several years, without ensuring adequate housing, health care, and jobs were available for newcomers. The Liberal Government also failed spectacularly to ensure those flooding into the country were given proper background checks.

To add insult to injury, Trudeau called Canadians who questioned his reckless policies “racist”.

It is not racist to ask why the government is bringing in upwards of one million new people each year when there aren’t enough homes for Canadians – including the many new Canadians who are already here. It is not racist to question the wisdom of bringing in more people who will cause additional strain to an already untenable healthcare system and our social safety net when Canadians cannot access (or must wait unacceptably long periods to receive) services they have paid for with their tax dollars.

Justin Trudeau’s policies have also been deeply unfair to new Canadians who have come to Canada, played by the rules, and yet been left without opportunities for good jobs and affordable homes, instead often being forced to line up at food banks or live on the street.

Trudeau’s failures on immigration are almost too many to chronicle in such a short piece.

We all remember the Prime Minister’s now infamous “welcome to Canada” tweet that sent tens of thousands of illegal migrants flooding across our border.

To make matters worse, Justin Trudeau normalized illegal migration, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on accommodations, even building a reception centre and bridge to assist illegal migrants. His actions saw our brave men and women in the RCMP and CBSA go from acting as law enforcement to acting as bell hops.

He also left Roxham Road open for a year after President Biden offered to close it.

He brought in 40,000 Syrian refugees without providing language training or credential recognition, resulting in the majority to end up on social assistance.

He removed the visa requirement for Mexico, causing an explosion in phony refugee claims.

He allowed rampant fraud and abuse in the International Student Visa and the Temporary Foreign Worker programs.

He allowed ISIS terrorists into Canada.

He allowed Chinese spies, and illegal police stations to operate unchecked.

Under successive failed ministers he allowed Immigration Canada (IRCC) to descend into a bureaucratic mess.

Trudeau’s last-minute, pre-election reversals cannot be believed, as does his audacity of expecting credit for “fixing” what his own government has broken.

Canada’s Conservatives will fix what Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have broken by bringing back common sense to our immigration system—once the envy of the world—the way it was before Trudeau.

We will end the fraud and excess in the asylum, Temporary Foreign Worker and International Student Programs, screen out terrorists and criminals from coming in, and cap population growth below the growth in the availability of homes, health care, and jobs.

Conservatives believe immigration targets should be driven by Canada’s economic and social needs, not ideology.

For example, Canada has 20,000 immigrant doctors and 32,000 immigrant nurses who are already here on Canadian soil but can’t practice in their field and serve their fellow Canadians—many of whom cannot access timely health care or find a family doctor. Common Sense Conservatives will bring in a ‘Blue Seal’ certification program where we will work with provinces to get our immigrant doctors and nurses working and bring home better health care for Canadians.

We will encourage more private sponsorship of refugees (i.e. churches, charities, family etc.)— taking some of the burden off the taxpayer.

We will ensure adequate housing and health care so everyone who comes here can have a roof over their head and access to care without disadvantaging those who are already here and overloading the system like the current government has done.

We will fix IRCC to ensure the current failures and backlogs cannot happen again.

We will secure our borders.

Common Sense Conservatives will bring home Canada’s promise. That anyone from anywhere can do anything, where hard work earns a powerful paycheque that buys affordable food and homes in safe neighbourhoods.

Let’s bring it home.