XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   CBC News - Aug 29, 2013   
      
      
   Immigrants a 'fiscal burden,' Fraser Institute report suggests   
      
   Those who arrived in Canada after 1986 less successful economically,   
   author says   
      
      
   The report from the Fraser Institute, which was released today, argues   
   that immigration of parents and grandparents be stopped completely. The   
   report from the Fraser Institute, which was released today, argues that   
   immigration of parents and grandparents be stopped completely.   
   	   
      
   Don't bring parents here for welfare, Kenney says   
      
      
   A new report suggests immigrants are imposing a "fiscal burden" of about   
   $20 billion a year on Canadian taxpayers and recommends a number of   
   radical changes to the country's immigration selection process,   
   including bringing an end to the sponsorship of parents and grandparents.   
      
   The report, released today by the Fraser Institute, also proposes that   
   the current immigrant selection process, which relies heavily on   
   political considerations, be replaced with one that relies primarily on   
   the private sector and labour market conditions.   
      
   "I recommend we get rid of the current system altogether, because it   
   relies on decisions made by politicians on issues which are virtually   
   unknowable and we substitute for it the judgment of business people,"   
   said Herbert Grubel, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author   
   of the report.   
      
   "People who employ workers, who know how much they can pay and have the   
   government only make sure that the system works well and that the pay   
   that is offered to these workers is at least enough to pay for the   
   services they receive."   
      
        Canada's foreign-born population soars to 6.8 million   
      
      
   While Grubel argues that immigration of parents and grandparents be   
   stopped completely, he says the changes should be phased in by making it   
   applicable only to new immigrants arriving after the adoption of the   
   proposed policy, allowing immigrants already in Canada to continue with   
   the sponsorship of their parents and grandparents.   
      
      
   But immigration lawyer Zool Suleman said the study fails to look at many   
   other factors, including when parents and grandparents contribute to   
   Canadian society in often intangible ways.   
      
   He also referenced a 2011 Simon Fraser University study that found   
   immigrants impose a far lower annual cost of about $450 per immigrant,   
   or about $2 billion per year.   
      
   Canada selects the largest proportion of its immigrants using an   
   objective points system that reflects the candidates' education, work   
   experience, language competence, and other indicators that are linked   
   with higher earnings.   
      
   Individuals selected on this basis are called "principal immigrants." In   
   2011, they numbered 64,397, representing 25.8 per cent of the 248,744   
   immigrants that year.   
      
   The principal immigrants were accompanied by their dependants (spouses   
   and underage children) numbering 91,724.   
      
   The government refers to the principal immigrants and their dependants   
   as "economic immigrants" who in 2011 numbered 156,121 and represented   
   62.8 per cent of all immigrants admitted.   
      
   "Parents and grandparents do a lot of undocumented, necessary work   
   inside and outside of the house allowing Canadians to actually be out in   
   the labour force," Suleman told CBC News.   
      
   "Let alone intangible, important things around values and family   
   structure and trying to enshrine a variety of things that are important   
   to Canada."   
      
   Such radical changes to the immigration selection process could result   
   in the loss of highly skilled immigrants to Canada, Suleman warned.   
      
   "Over the years what I've seen is, many of the highly skilled immigrants   
   who come and the middle skilled immigrants who come here clearly want   
   the family to be part of the immigration plan, meaning parents and   
   grandparents," he said.   
      
   "So I think that if they were not able to bring their parents and   
   grandparents, Canada may not be in the top tier of countries that   
   immigrants select to come to."   
      
      
   In May, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced new   
   criteria for sponsoring parents and grandparents to come to Canada that   
   are aimed at ensuring elderly immigrants don't end up on welfare or in   
   social housing.   
      
        Don't bring parents here for welfare, Kenney says   
      
   "I looked at the detailed steps he has taken and they’re all the right   
   direction," Grubel said of Kenney's reforms. "But I am skeptical that   
   they will in fact succeed in bringing in immigrants that will, in fact,   
   pay for the government services that they consume and will not impose a   
   burden on taxpayers."   
      
   The report also advocates for a public inquiry about the number of   
   immigrants that are admitted into Canada on economic and humanitarian   
   grounds.   
      
   Grubel said his research also indicated that immigrants who arrived in   
   Canada after 1986 have been less successful economically than those who   
   arrived before that time.   
      
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