Nick Noorani Website

Carol Goar
Shortcuts can lead to deep trouble.
That is where the Conservative government has landed with its hastily introduced, poorly explained bill to overhaul Canada’s immigration system.
By short-circuiting parliamentary debate, Immigration Minister Diane Finley has spawned a host of suspicions. By burying her legislation in a budget implementation bill, she has alienated many ethnic groups. By downplaying legitimate concerns, she has raised fears about the government’s motives.
In a belated attempt to clarify the bill, the minister sent her deputy, Richard Fadden and her communications director, Mike Fraser, to Toronto late last week to brief the media. They made their presentation in a cavernous auditorium. Eight journalists were there.

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‘Finally someone does something that makes sense and helps both immigrants & Canada!’
New citizens offered free year-long passes to cultural institutions
Call it the establishment’s way of welcoming 72 new Canadians into the fold.
Along with a laminated citizenship certificate and a Canadian flag, newly minted patriots at a citizenship ceremony in Toronto yesterday got a special gift — free year-long family passes to six of Toronto’s major cultural institutions: Art Gallery of Ontario, Gardiner Museum, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Ontario Science Centre, Royal Ontario Museum and the Textile Museum of Canada.

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Canada’s image as a safe and secure destination for foreign temporary workers is under fire, critics say.
By Michelle Collins
The government has been working hard in recent years to expand the number of temporary foreign workers who are allowed into Canada to ease what appears to be a growing labour shortage across the country.
But Canada’s image as a great place to work and earn a living is being threatened as migrant workers from Mexico who say they are being mistreated are now reaching out to a United Nations special rapporteur for help.
In an interview last month, Jorge Bustamante, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, told Embassy that over the past six months, he has received about a half-dozen letters directly from Mexican migrant workers in Canada.

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In a conversation with me, Citizenship & Immigration Minister Diane Finley said the Governemnt wants to fast track Doctors and health care workers.
Let me understand this: every time I ask a cabbie in Toronto their profession – most of them say they are international medical graduates (IMG). Doctors. Driving cabs. We have them here – why are we bringing in more? I know a cardiac surgeon who washed dishes in Toronto before literally throwing in the towel and returning to China! The fact is that changes to the way IMG’s get internship is not a Federal jurisdiction but a Provincial one. Let’s first fix this before we ruin more lives of talented, trained professionals! And while they are at it, scrutinize the old boy’s clubs that sets restrictive barriers for IMG’s into the professional arena.

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OTTAWA — The biggest rabbit to come out of the federal hat this year has been the major overhaul of Canada’s immigration system that the Conservatives tucked in their budget implementation bill, thereby risking the life of their minority government.
An attending surprise has been that Immigration Minister Diane Finley – who has been cast in a rare leading role in the budget debate – can hold her own in French.
With the Conservative immigration policy emerging as the last remaining trigger for a spring election, a bilingual immigration minister could come in handy on the campaign trail.
For if the Harper government were to fall over its proposed reform, none of the parties should be under the delusion that the immigration debate would be a one-day wonder, with Finley and her plan disappearing into the woodwork of the Conservative platform.

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