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Canada and the U.S., Different Strokes for Different Folks Divergent paths to Immigration reform across borders
By Tony Best
Nov 10, 2005, 20:40

It's a case of different strokes for different folks, in this case Canadians and Americans.

The two North American nations may share borders and their economies are growing but they are traveling in different directions when it comes to immigration, specifically how to meet the labor market needs and how to solve the problem of undocumented immigrants.

While anti-immigration forces in and out of the U.S. Congress in Washington and the Bush Administration, not to mention labor unions and business enterprises are gearing up for a bruising battle over immigration reform, Canadians, specifically, the government of Prime Minister, Paul Martin, want to welcome more immigrants to their shores and keep many of the undocumented immigrants already in the country.

So, at a time when conservatives are threatening to fight the Bush White House tooth and nail in order to reduce immigration, and battle with some members of the House of Representative and the Senate who would to make life easier for some illegal aliens in the U.S. the Martin government said it would loosen the immigration rules because of shortages in the labor market.

"We have to start thinking about the (Canadian) Immigration Department as a recruiting vehicle for Canada's demographic and labor market needs," said Joe Volpe, Canada's Immigration Minister. "We are the lungs of the country. We are producing more jobs than the labor market has workers for. We're desperate for immigration."

That's why the Martin Administration is planning to:

* Increase the level of immigration to 300,000 foreign-born persons a year within five years.

* Reduce the backlog nightmare by introducing a new system to process applications from more than 700,000 persons who are now being forced to wait as long as four years to get the green light to enter the country.

* Bring in more workers on temporary visas - there are bout 95,000 a year - to fill positions in the trades, such as pipe fitters and truck drivers.

* Introduce a new "in-Canada" application that will allow temporary workers and students to remain in the country permanently by making them eligible to apply for landed immigrant status once they have worked for a certain number of months. For instance, live-in caregivers can apply for permanent residency after two years working as nannies.

* A limited amnesty plan designed to grant legal status to thousands of persons working in the underground economy, particularly in Ontario's construction sector.

Canada's immigration picture is miniscule when compared with that of the U.S. where about 10 million undocumented immigrants now live and work. For example, Canada accepted 236,000 immigrants last year. Of those 57 per cent were considered "economic immigrants" and the remaining 43 per cent were in the
family class, including refugees and others granted permanent residency status on humanitarian grounds, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper.

Canada is on track to accept between 245,000-250,000 immigrants this year.

"Under the current system, we make people wait months before we even open their (immigration) application," said Volpe. "We would like to open their applications more quickly, and get them started on the process."

With an estimated 200,000 undocumented workers in Canada, the Minister made it clear that he supported a plan to regularize the status of illegal aliens provided they pass security and background checks.

In the U.S. the situation is murky. President George Bush is said to favor reducing the backlog of applicants for permanent residency and would ask Congress to approve the entry of an extremely limited number of temporary workers. But the White House opposes amnesty. So do arch-conservatives who
threaten the Administration that they would take their discontent to the Congress and to key conservative sectors, President Bush' base of support.

However, a bill now being the Senate, which is being described as a "work in progess," meaning that the key proposals are subject to change offers Caribbean immigrants a glimmer of hope.

The driving forces behind the legislative efforts are two prominent members of the Senate, Edward Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, and John McCain, a Republican of Arizona, who has eyes on the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Their bill, which conservatives have vowed to kill, would, among other things:
* Create an essential workers scheme, using H-5A visas to enable people in the Caribbean, Central America and other regions to enter the U.S. and work for a specified period of time. They would be hitred to fill low paying jobs that many Americans are reluctant to take.

* Allow millions of undocumented already in the U.S. to change their status by registering for a temporary visas.

* Would open up affordable health care to illegal immigrants by providing federal reimbursements to hospitals and clinics, which provide services to the undocumented.

* Expand the pool of workers available to hotels, restaurants, light manufacturing plants and construction companies.

* Impose stiff fines on employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. A database would be created to make it easier for employers to check the immigration status of job applicants. Interestingly, unlike Canada, the McCain-Kennedy proposal wouldn't contain an amnesty provision but anti-immigration favors that oppose and such a move warn that if it turned out to be an amnesty scheme they would rise up against it.