Immigration is expected to factor into election debates, but restraint is being urged.
Canadians will head to the polls next month to vote for a new federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today.
Trudeau framed the coming vote as a choice between “moving forward” or going back to the “failed policies” of the Conservative Party of Canada, which the Trudeau-led Liberal Party of Canada ousted from power in 2015.
It is widely believed that immigration could emerge as an issue in this election. While Canada’s main federal political parties all stand in favor of immigration, the past four years have seen them diverge on a number of related immigration issues.
How Canada’s 2019 federal election could it affect immigration policies and Express Entry?
The affect on Asylum seekers:
Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017, nearly 50,000 people — mostly non-Americans — have crossed into Canada from the United States via unofficial ports of entry to claim asylum.
Among other impacts, the sharp rise in asylum claims overwhelmed Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board and forced it to abandon its 60-day requirement for protection hearings, which now face an nearly two years.
The Conservatives have frequently portrayed the situation as “a crisis” that has undermined public confidence in Canada’s borders and damaged public support for immigration more broadly.
The Liberals have fought back against the “crisis” label and accused the Conservatives of spreading misinformation about the situation and using it to stoke public fears for political gain.
Immigration levels
The Liberals and Conservatives have also been at odds when it comes to immigration levels, which the Liberals have raised significantly since coming to power in 2015.
In 2017, the Liberal government introduced a new approach to immigration levels planning that moved away from single-year plans to a multi-year plan called for a gradual increase in the number of immigrants admitted to Canada in each of the three subsequent years, from 310,000 in 2018 to 340,000 in 2020 and 350,000,in 2021, or nearly one per cent of the Canadian population.
The Conservatives, however, have compared the Liberal approach to immigration levels to “an auction” with little regard for whether those admitted find work or meet existing employer needs.
“The facts clearly demonstrate that Canada is going to need immigrants to help grow the economy,”.
