Who is "fit" to immigrate to Canada?

[Acajack]

There will be an extensive report on Quebec's immigrant investor program tonight on the SRC TV program Enquêtes, which is kind of like The Fifth Estate.

Teasers that SRC radio has been broadcasting today indicate that the program is a bit of a free for all and that fake documents were often accepting without verification, and of course as we all knew that most investors knew nothing about Quebec and never intended to settle here.

[Acajack]

For those who can read French:

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle...bec/index.html

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There will be an extensive report on Quebec's immigrant investor program tonight on the SRC TV program Enquêtes, which is kind of like The Fifth Estate.

Teasers that SRC radio has been broadcasting today indicate that the program is a bit of a free for all and that fake documents were often accepting without verification, and of course as we all knew that most investors knew nothing about Quebec and never intended to settle here.

Hopefully it will become an election issue.

I've yet to hear of one recipients of these programs creating a new and innovative business in Canada that becomes a success. Realty firms don't count.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There will be an extensive report on Quebec's immigrant investor program tonight on the SRC TV program Enquêtes, which is kind of like The Fifth Estate.

Teasers that SRC radio has been broadcasting today indicate that the program is a bit of a free for all and that fake documents were often accepting without verification, and of course as we all knew that most investors knew nothing about Quebec and never intended to settle here.

The terms of the Quebec program are that you need to have $2M in assets and you need to invest $1.2M over 5 years. The $1.2M investment is guaranteed by the government of Quebec (!). I don't know how these investments normally turn out, but this could actually be a subsidy of foreign investors by the province of Quebec. In the best case it works out to a small fee for the wealthy immigrants (loss of value of principal due to inflation, maybe $100,000 or so).

There was a big uproar in New Zealand about people like Peter Thiel buying passports using a similar program. The difference is he invested over $40M CAD.

Most other countries that have this program are small island nations like St. Kitts and Nevis. St. Kitts and Nevis is more demanding than Canada though. They require a $150,000 US "donation".

It's hard to view this program in a positive way. If we actually want to attract rich people and make money then we should be charging more. If not then we should shut investor class immigration down.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There will be an extensive report on Quebec's immigrant investor program tonight on the SRC TV program Enquêtes, which is kind of like The Fifth Estate.

Teasers that SRC radio has been broadcasting today indicate that the program is a bit of a free for all and that fake documents were often accepting without verification, and of course as we all knew that most investors knew nothing about Quebec and never intended to settle here.

CBC aired the story in English last night. Appalling, it shows hiw BC gets screwed having to deal with Quebec's investor immigrant applicants, many of whome never live in Quebec and head straight for Vancouver, snapping up property.

Any Quebec government with a shred of integrity would scrap the program after this.

...Nor did it seem to matter to most of the Hong Kong-based advisers that Mr. Chen said he had no intention to actually take up residence in Quebec. Any permanent resident or citizen of Canada has the constitutional right to move anywhere in the country, but it is a requirement of the immigrant investor program that candidates declare a firm intention to settle in Quebec.

"If they ask you, it's best if you don't answer so honestly. Don't tell them so plainly you don't plan to stay there," the Globevisa consultant advised.

All but one of the consultants told Mr. Chen he could settle elsewhere in Canada, but that he should not disclose this intention to Canadian immigration authorities.

Quebec immigration lawyer Hugue Langlais said Radio-Canada's hidden-camera footage shows the Quebec government should end the QIIP.

"I'm a little uncomfortable to see that we have a program with major shortcomings that are known in the industry," he said.

"I think the federal government did the right thing in 2014 in shutting down its program. I think the Quebec government should think about doing the same thing."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/quebe...mera-1.4832245

[whatnext]

Surprised nobody mentioned this. Just in time for the election, the Liberals are moving to close the loophole that allowed so many third coutnry refugee claimants to enter Canada from the USA at irregular crossings:

After two years of largely avoiding the issue, Ottawa says it is finally working with the U.S. government to close the loophole in an immigration treaty between the two countries that is at the heart of Canada’s long-running surge in irregular border crossings.

That’s good news, but also troubling. It’s a mystery why the Trudeau government has been reluctant to try to fix the Safe Third Country Agreement. The STCA has such an obvious and enormous flaw – one that effectively negates its entire purpose – that it is fair to ask why the Liberals are finally targeting it now.

Under the STCA, anyone making a refugee claim in the United States or Canada can only do so in the first of the two countries they arrive in. The agreement is based on the assumption that Canada and the United States are both “safe” countries that refugees have no grounds to flee, and that they will get a fair hearing in both places.

But the agreement only applies to refugees arriving from the United States who try to make a claim at a designated Canadian port-of-entry. It’s this loophole that has prompted tens of thousands of people to walk into Canada ever since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016.

In 2017, the RCMP intercepted more than 20,000 irregular crossers at an unauthorized entry point near Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que. Virtually all of them were allowed to make refugee claims, because Canada is obliged to give them that chance under both international treaties and a 1985 Supreme Court ruling.

In 2018, the number was 19,419, according to Bill Blair, the Minister of Border Security. Another 1,696 were intercepted by the RCMP between Jan. 1 and March 1 of this year, Mr. Blair said Sunday when he announced that he is in active talks with U.S. officials to close the STCA loophole.

Mr. Blair says he would like the STCA amended so that the RCMP can transport irregular border crossers to the nearest legal port of entry, where they could be processed under the terms of the agreement and returned immediately to the United States, if the rules allowed it...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...-what-took-so/

[kwoldtimer]

The G&M is on a tear these days. I read that article and found myself wondering if they had done an FOI on contacts between Cdn and U.S. officials on the subject over the past two years? The article also fails to mention that the U.S. side has only in recent months woken up to the fact that considerable numbers of people are crossing illegally from Quebec into Vermont, which may have encouraged them to engage on the issue.

It could be that the Canadian side neglected the issue, or has taken it up now with an eye on the election, but I'd really want to know more about what's been happening behind the scenes.

[whatnext]

A Liberal MP calls for his governemnt to end Birth Tourism:

A Liberal MP is calling on the federal government to address the practice of non-resident mothers coming to Canada to give birth, which he calls an “awful practice” that must be stopped.

Joe Peschisolido, Liberal MP for Steveston-Richmond East, says he has spoken with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen about the issue of “birth tourism” and expects a response from government to be forthcoming.

Mr. Peschisolido said such practice is taking advantage of Canadian immigration and health-care systems.

“You have folks who are buying their way into Canada. Their children spent the first seven to 14 days of their lives and then they leave, and they become Canadian citizens without contributing anything to Canada," he said in an interview on Thursday.

"These folks don’t deserve Canadian citizenship.”

Across British Columbia, babies born to non-resident mothers accounted for about 2 per cent of almost 43,000 births in 2017-18. But Richmond Hospital has been called an epicentre of the practice because about half of the province’s non-resident births take place there.

From April 1, 2018, to Feb. 7, 2019, there were 389 births to non-resident mothers at Richmond Hospital. In 2017-18, there were 474, and in 2016-17, 383. Since 2014, newborns of non-resident parents accounted for between 15 per cent and 22 per cent of all babies born at the hospital....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...n-to-curb-the/

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by whatnext

A Liberal MP calls for his governemnt to end Birth Tourism:

A Liberal MP is calling on the federal government to address the practice of non-resident mothers coming to Canada to give birth, which he calls an “awful practice” that must be stopped.

Joe Peschisolido, Liberal MP for Steveston-Richmond East, says he has spoken with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen about the issue of “birth tourism” and expects a response from government to be forthcoming.

Mr. Peschisolido said such practice is taking advantage of Canadian immigration and health-care systems.

“You have folks who are buying their way into Canada. Their children spent the first seven to 14 days of their lives and then they leave, and they become Canadian citizens without contributing anything to Canada," he said in an interview on Thursday.

"These folks don’t deserve Canadian citizenship.”

Across British Columbia, babies born to non-resident mothers accounted for about 2 per cent of almost 43,000 births in 2017-18. But Richmond Hospital has been called an epicentre of the practice because about half of the province’s non-resident births take place there.

From April 1, 2018, to Feb. 7, 2019, there were 389 births to non-resident mothers at Richmond Hospital. In 2017-18, there were 474, and in 2016-17, 383. Since 2014, newborns of non-resident parents accounted for between 15 per cent and 22 per cent of all babies born at the hospital....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...n-to-curb-the/

This same Joe Peschisolido?

https://globalnews.ca/news/5383423/l...ndering-probe/

Methinks someone doth protest too much.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

This same Joe Peschisolido?

https://globalnews.ca/news/5383423/l...ndering-probe/

Methinks someone doth protest too much.

Our resident defender of shady immigration and housing practises returns.


The original petition to ban Birth Tourism was presented in parliament by the Conservative MP for Richmond Centre, Alice Wong.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Our resident defender of shady immigration and housing practises returns.


The original petition to ban Birth Tourism was presented in parliament by the Conservative MP for Richmond Centre, Alice Wong.

Practices. Not defending any shady goings on except perhaps your nauseatingly self-righteous posts.

[whatnext]

Bu-bye money launderers! I guess of you have something to hide and might get extradited there are greener pastures:

Chinese immigration and visitor visa applications to Canada plunge since arrest of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou

[ssiguy]

Best news I've heard all day.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Best news I've heard all day.

Yes, certainly if people with something to hide are self-selecting not to apply, it saves us the trouble of weeding them out.

One would think anyone with a legitimate interest in fully committing to become Canadian would be well-informed enough to know arbitrary detention is not a problem in Canada. And then there's this, showing that China is prepared to crack down on its citizens who think having a second citizenship is any protection on the Mainland:

China’s push back on dual passports may derail investment immigration schemes
Mainland authorities may tighten up on the practice of holding citizenship rights in countries other than China, potentially impacting high-net-worth individuals

[Acajack]

It's actually very sad things turned out this way. Headline choices are always interesting. The guy in orange in the bottom video is their son. The family only arrived in Canada in 2015.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/10/...hate-messages/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/d...rian-food.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ02...ature=youtu.be

[kool maudit]

Man, his dad has got to be pretty pissed off at him.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Man, his dad has got to be pretty pissed off at him.

They are technically "Syrian refugees" which evokes images of them living in the rubble of Aleppo but apparently they are a well-off family of businesspeople who lived in the Gulf states for quite some time.

I still agree that it must be very frustrating for the family given that even with some acumen and resources building a successful business in a new country like that, in four years, is no small feat.

And then to have it washed away...

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Acajack

They are technically "Syrian refugees" which evokes images of them living in the rubble of Aleppo but apparently they are a well-off family of businesspeople who lived in the Gulf states for quite some time.

I still agree that it must be very frustrating for the family given that even with some acumen and resources building a successful business in a new country like that, in four years, is no small feat.

And then to have it washed away...

True. On the other hand the harassment of a woman with a walker just for attending a meeting they disagreed with was out of bounds. Bernier isn't frying babies.

[milomilo]

Wearing a black mask at a protest doesn't scream integration to me, sucks for the owners though. Both the original protesters and the response are idiots.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by whatnext

. Bernier isn't frying babies.

Not yet anyway. If you listen to some people he is on his way there.