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New minister faces immigration dilemma



By CAMPBELL CLARK


Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - Page A7


OTTAWA -- Newly minted Immigration Minister Denis Coderre is caught between
rolling back new, retroactive immigration rules or spending at least
$100-million on refunds to people who applied to come to Canada.

Former immigration minister Elinor Caplan, who was shuffled to the Revenue
Department last week, had approved a refund program and settled the matter
with department officials, Immigration Department sources said. But she did
not have time to announce the move before last Tuesday's cabinet shuffle.

Now Mr. Coderre must decide whether to pay the $100-million it would cost to
follow through with Ms. Caplan's refund plan, or scrap the retroactive rules
altogether.

That is because Liberal backbench MPs, especially those in the 35-member
Greater Toronto caucus, oppose the plan that would impose tougher new rules
on 400,000 people who applied under the old system.

They insist that Mr. Coderre change the new policy to ensure that the
tougher standards apply only to new applicants -- or at least refund the
$500 application fee paid by those who applied under the old system.

"The retroactivity is offensive in and of itself," said Toronto MP Joe
Volpe. "Keeping the money verges on fraud and theft."

The new immigration system, announced in December, chooses skilled workers
based more on education and training levels than on whether they fit into a
list of job categories. But the pass mark for getting into Canada was also
raised much higher.

What prompted the most fury, however, was the government's plan to impose
those rules on people who had applied under the old system. The backbenchers
say it changes the rules in mid-game, subjecting prospective immigrants to
an arbitrary, unpredictable system.

Mr. Coderre will meet with a group of angry Liberal backbenchers next week.
His press secretary, Nicole Beauchamp, said Mr. Coderre is considering
concerns about the retroactivity and refunds, and he feels the matter "is
still open."

The new, tougher entry standards were imposed because Immigration Department
officials wanted to ensure the burgeoning backlog of prospective immigrants
did not cause Canada to overshoot immigration targets. They were made
retroactive in a bid to cut those waiting lists quickly.

Benjamin Trister, the chairman of the immigration section of the Canadian
Bar Association, said as many as 300,000 people in the immigration backlog
will see their applications refused because of the retroactive rule change.
It would cost $150-million to refund their application fees.

Others estimate it would cost $100-million to $175-million. But not giving
the refunds would be "a $175-million government robbery," said Sarkis
Assadourian, the Liberal MP for Brampton Centre.

Mr. Assadourian said the government should simply process the outstanding
applications, and consider new standards only for new applicants.

And Mr. Trister noted that given the cost of the refunds, the government
might prefer the politics of backtracking on its new policy.