Issues

Bill C-50 Changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

(see below on how to act on this important piece of legislation)

URGENT: The Standing Committee on

CHAIR

VICE-CHAIRS

Thierry St-Cyr	Andrew Telegdi

MEMBERS

Dave Batters	Colleen Beaumier
Maurizio Bevilacqua	Robert Carrier
Olivia Chow	Nina Grewal
Jim Karygiannis	Wajid Khan
Ed Komarnicki

Citizenship and Immigration has been informed that they must report on Bill C-50 Immigration Section to Parliament by May 9th

Dear Friends,

Some of you are aware that the Conservative government introduced major controversial changes to the Immigration Act. People who now qualify for landed immigrant status and have paid their fees will no longer be guaranteed a Visa but will have to depend on the discretion of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who may issue a visa.

Under the new legislation, the immigration minister would have the authority to:

Limit the number of immigration applications Canada accepts.
Deny admission to applicants already approved by immigration officers.
Block the entry of would-be immigrants “by category or otherwise”

This is what Bill C-50 would do. If the minister wanted to block the inflow of relatives sponsored by family members in Canada, she could do it. If she wanted to exclude immigrants from certain countries, she could do it. If she wanted to propel foreign workers needed by a government-friendly employer to the front of the queue, she could do that too.

The minister could issue an instruction overriding all of the existing criteria.

What this means is that Canada would no longer be an immigrant-welcoming country. It would be a rich Western power that shops for high-value immigrants. Federal officials would no longer use objective standards to determine whether an individual qualifies for a visa. This minister would be able to set and change the rules at will.

The government is also proposing to issue hundreds of thousands of temporary work permits.

I apologize for the short time frame of this notice. The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration begins the reporting stage of this legislation on Monday, April 28th, 2008. The standing committee must report to Parliament by May 9th, 2008 Barbara Jackman, renowned immigration lawyer, will be in attendance to explain and discuss the magnitude of the changes to the Immigration Act.

You views are essential to this debate. I hope you, or your representative can attend.

Meeting details

Meeting Package

Bingemans Conference Centre—Ballroom E

Saturday, April 26, 2008

10am-1pm

425 Bingemans Centre Drive, Kitchener, Ontario

-Part 6 of Bill C-50 Immigration Section

-Agenda

Documents

-Canada's guest workers not such a warm welcome

-Worth Waiting for?

-10 Reasons to be concerned about proposed amendments to IRPA in Bill C-50

-Labour Group: Protect foreign workers

To act on this important piece of legislation please send your elected representative as well as the Standing Committee members (found above) an email (or letter) illustrating your displeasure with this proposed legislation.

Email Andrew your thoughts and concerns here.

Crime Prevention, Justice & Community Safety

Andrew has long been concerned with crime prevention, justice and community safety.

In 1976, he became Executive Director of Youth in Conflict with the Law, an organization that counsels young people who have been caught in criminal activity. He was a founder of the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention and Community Safety Committee and Coordinator of Justice Week in Waterloo Region.

Andrew believes that close co-operation among the police, the courts and the community is the most effective approach to developing policies that foster justice and fairness.

Here are some articles dealing with important issues in that area.

The Record, Melinda Dalton, December 8, 2007: inside the walls of Grand Valley

The Record, Philip Jalsevac, Dec. 1, 2007 MP won't be fixing mistake in crime statistics

The Record, Brian Caldwell, Nov. 28, 2007 Politicians keep heat on prison

The Record, Melinda Dalton & Tamsin McMahon, Nov.26, 2007 High hopes for new prison boss

The Record, Philip Jalsevac, Nov. 22, 2007 New prison warden is named

Action on Junk Mail

House of Commons Debate, March 18th, 1996, An Act to Amend the Canada Post Corporation Act

The Record, Philip Jalsevac, April 24, 1997 No ad mail, please

The Record, Opinion, April 26, 1997 Telegdi's persistence on ad mail pays off (see below)

The lot of the backbencher is not always a happy one. Backbenchers are often the butt of jokes and have even been refered to as trained seals, which is rather unfair - particularily to the seals.

But if life on the backbenches in the House of Commons is not as glamorous as being in the cabinet, where the major decisions are made, it does have rewards that go beyond a paycheque and a pension plan.

A backbencher has the opportunity to take a good idea, develop it, promote it, and with luck, see it implemented. One such idea was taken, developed and promoted by Andrew Telegdi, the Liberal MP for Waterloo.

Telegdi has argued for years that people should not get ad mail from Canada Post if they don't want it. He even introduced a private member's bill in the Commons to give Canadians the right to avoid getting ad mail from the post office.

This week, his efforts came to fruition. Public Works Minister Dianne Marleau announced that Canada Post will respect the views of those who don't want to receive ad mail from Canada Post.

This new politcy serves everyone's interests: Advertisers won't wast their money sending advertisements to people who don't want them; it's good for the environment because it will mean less paper will be wasted; and it's obviously good for those who are annoyed when they receive ad mail.

Marleau said that Telegdi had been "bugging her" about this issue for so long that she was pleased to be able to respond.

Good for Telegdi. Determination has its place in Ottawa, as well as everywhere else.

To get your name off the junk mail list please check out this website: