The writ has not been dropped yet, but Canada’s political parties are already in campaign mode. Perhaps more so than usual, immigration is featuring as a hotly contested issue in this year’s federal election. To help you make sense of where the different political parties stand, the table below breaks down each party’s position by immigration topic.
UPDATE*
On September 6, 2019, we published a table in which we summarized the Canadian political parties’ positions on various immigration topics.With the October 21 election fast approaching, we keep learning more about where the parties stand. Please find below a summary of the promises that parties have made on immigration as of October 9, 2019.
| Conservative Party of Canada | Green Party of Canada | Liberal Party of Canada | New Democratic Party | People’s Party of Canada | |
| Economic Immigration | “Emphasize” economic immigration and work with the provinces to accommodate their needs and priorities | No clear position | Introduce a “Municipal Nominee Program” and make the Atlantic Immigration Pilot permanent | No clear position | Reform the point system to focus on accepting a larger portion of economic migrants |
| Recognition of Foreign Credentials | Improve foreign credential recognition and prioritize funding to immigration services | Remove barriers preventing recognition of foreign credentials | No clear position | Work with the provinces to address gaps in settlement services and improve foreign credential recognition | No clear position |
| Pathway to Permanent Residence (“PR”) for Temporary Foreign Workers (“TFWs”) | Provide “low skilled” workers with pathway to PR | No clear position but the Greens want to eliminate the TFW program altogether | Government recently introduced a pilot program to create pathway to PR for caregivers | Provide caregivers with status and family reunification | No clear position |
| Family Reunification | Prioritize those “who apply…through the appropriate immigration streams, especially in the family reunification program” | Speed up family reunification | No clear position | Prioritize family reunification | Limit the number of people arriving under the family category |
| Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship | No clear position on total numbers but Conservatives sharply criticized the Government’s 2019 parental sponsorship program | Speed up reunification of Canadians with their parents | In 2019, Government increased the application cap from 17,000 to 20,000 and replaced the lottery system with a first-come first-serve basis | Eliminate caps on applications to sponsor parents and grandparents | Abolish parent and grandparent sponsorship programs |
| Overall Number of Newcomers | Set immigration levels at “what is consistent with…Canada’s best interest” as opposed to the current “arbitrary immigration levels” | No clear position | The Liberal Party platforms promises “modest and responsible increase to immigration” | No clear position | Lower the total number of migrants from 350,000 to 100,000 and 150,000 depending on the state of the economy |
| Safe Third Country Agreement (“STCA”) | Close “loopholes” (otherwise known as exceptions) in the STCA allowing asylum seekers to cross the border at unofficial entry points | Terminate the STCA with the USA | Work with the United States to “modernize” the STCA | Suspend the STCA with the United States | Declare the entire border an official point of entry and send back to the US anyone who enters without authorization |
| Irregular Border Crossings | Move Immigration and Refugee Board judges to irregular entry points | Elizabeth May has spoken about the fact that many irregular crossers are fleeing persecution and need access to ordinary due process | The 2019 Budget Bill pledged $1.18 billion in additional resources to strengthen border processing and removals | Remove the need for irregular crossings by suspending the STCA and allowing asylum seekers to cross at regular entry points | Fence off areas at the border where irregular migration takes place |
| Deportations | Hire an additional 250 CBSA enforcement officers | Repeal the legal provisions that encourage rapid deportations | No clear position, but the Government has increased and sped up deportations in the last year | No clear position | Send back to the US anyone who enters without authorization |
| Undocumented People | No clear position | Establish program to deal with the 200,000 undocumented people in Canada | No clear position, but the Government introduced a program to regularize the status of some undocumented construction workers in the Greater Toronto Area | No clear position | No clear position |
| Refugee Determination | Prioritize those who face “true persecution” | Include environmental refugees as a recognized category | The 2019 Budget Bill introduced provisions making asylum seekers ineligible for refugee status if they made a claim in a country with which Canada has an agreement | Reduce refugee backlogs at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada | Stop “our reliance on the United Nations for refugee selection” |
| Private Refugee Sponsorship | Increase numbers or lift the current cap | No clear position | Introduce a permanent refugee stream to provide a safe haven for human rights advocates, journalists, and humanitarian workers at risk. | No clear position | Rely more on private sponsorship |
| UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration | Andrew Scheer appears to have walked away from earlier pledge to un-sign the Compact | Support it | Support it | Support it | Un-sign the Compact |
| Immigration Consultants | No clear position | Toughen the regulations governing the industry | The 2019 Budget Bill introduced a self-regulating body for immigration consultants | Ensure that the industry is regulated by the Government | No clear position |
| Lost Canadians | No clear position | Ensure that “Lost Canadians” receive citizenship | No clear position | No clear position | No clear position |
| Application Fees | No clear position | No clear position | Make citizenship processing free for those who have fulfilled the requirements | No clear position | No clear position |
For a more detailed analysis of the parties’ various positions on immigration issues, please see this article by Green and Spiegel’s very own Kelly Goldthorpe and Ghazi Jarrar in The Lawyer’s Daily [Subscription required].
