New Canadian prime minister to make life easier for immigrants

Only yesterday Canada elected its new Prime Minister, considered to be the “new face of Canadian politics.” Justin Trudeau is the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada who skyrocketed his party’s fortunes from third place to electoral victory. Majority of the Liberal Party were also voted in office in the federal election.

The charismatic son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau said his victory came because of the Canadian citizens’ need for a positive, ambitious, and hopeful agenda for the country. He promised he will lead that government with that agenda in mind.

The biggest reason for Trudeau’s victory? His policy for free Canadian immigration assessment.

Trudeau and the Liberals will be succeeding the leadership of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative party. Harper and the Conservatives have made considerable changes involving the Canadian immigration landscape.

Canada’s Liberal Party has been known for being the most sympathetic Canadian political party when it comes to immigration matters. When Trudeau’s father was Prime Minister, his government pledged to support multiculturalism, which means integrating newcomers into Canadian society without forcing these immigrants to give up their unique identity and culture.

Some of the Liberal’s proposed reforms to Canada’s immigration system are the following: doubling the number of immigration applications allowed for parents and grandparents sponsorship; reducing wait times by for processing of family class immigration applications; increasing points allocation to applicants who have siblings in Canada on their Express Entry application; lifting the visa requirement for Mexican travel to Canada; eliminating the $1,000 Labor Market Impact Assessment fee for families seeking caregivers to care for family members with physical or mental disabilities; restore free access to health care for refugee/asylum seekers pending a decision on their case by the government; making easier for international students to achieve Canadian citizenship; restoring the Canadian citizenship residency time credit for international students in Canada; bypassing the two-year wait period for “conditional permanent residence” for spouses of sponsored individuals; and restoring the maximum age for dependents from 19 to 22.

Given these policies, the Liberals have a lot to live up to. But with a pledge of $500 million and a majority government, as well as a charismatic Prime Minister, the voters are rest assured that these policies will be enacted as soon as possible.

Source : Canadim