Borderlines

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Alice Craft is a Research Associate in the Immigration knowledge area at the Conference Board of Canada. She recently published a paper titled Small Business, Big Impact Immigrant Hiring and Integration in Five Canadian Cities.

We discuss the key findings of that study -- namely, that:

• In fast-growing small and mid-sized Canadian cities, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in multiple sectors identified skill shortages as their most common employment challenge.
• SMEs are using practical and inclusive strategies to evaluate newcomers’ education and experience, but they rarely intentionally reach out to newcomers or work with immigrant‑serving agencies during recruitment and onboarding.
• SMEs prioritize English/French language skills, particularly spoken communication, when hiring immigrants. Language skills are particularly important in client-facing roles or those involving safety regulations.
• Negative experiences and limited understanding of immigration processes discourage SMEs from engaging with the immigration system.
• Affordable housing and access to public transit and child care compound labour market challenges for both job-seeking immigrants and SMEs looking to hire and retain talent.

We also discuss her recommendations.

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This episode orginally aired on October 28, 2016.

A discussion of the role of immigration on the Vancouver housing market.

Tom Davidoff is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. He is frequently cited in the Vancouver media as being an expert on Vancouver's housing market, and was part of a team of nine academics who created the B.C. Housing Affordability Fund proposal. He can be found on Twitter @TomDavidoff

David Eby is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Point Grey, and was previously the Executive Director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. He is a passionate advocate for making Vancouver a more affordable place to live. He can be found on Twitter @Dave_Eby

The questions that we discussed in the podcast are:

What has been going on in the Vancouver housing market?

How fast have prices been rising? Is there evidence that foreign investment / foreign funds has been the cause of the increase in Vancouver housing prices?

What data is there regarding the amount of foreign home ownership in Vancouver?

What is the property transfer tax, and what are the new rules on how it applies to foreign buyers?

Is there evidence that high housing prices impacts the rental market? Does it matter if the landlord is a Canadian or a foreigner?

Why should high housing prices matter? Why should people think that they should be able to live in a market that they cannot afford?

Should we move beyond the paradigm of valuing single detached homes? What role do international students play in the increase in housing prices?

Does the fear of being accused of racism prevent government from addressing the issue of high prices?

Is real estate such an integral part of the British Columbia economy such that high prices are now "too big to fail?"

Should we move beyond the paradigm of valuing home ownership?

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Mike Moffatt is the Senior Director of Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics and Public Policy group at Ivey Business School, Western University. He is the host of the Missing Middle podcast.

1:20       Mike's speech to the Liberal Cabinet in August 2024 re. the impact of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) on housing.

5:15       Mike’s thoughts on recent changes to the TFWP.

6:45       What is the impact of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program on housing in Canada?

8:00       Discussion re. zoning and development fees.

13:00    What level of immigration would be ideal in order to reduce the impact on housing?

18:30   Consequences of promoting pathways to PR for international students.

24:00    Are recent changes to Canada’s international student program the end for private colleges?

28:00    Is the recent decline in rents attributable to the international student program changes?

34:00    Should there be a hard cap on Canada’s foreign worker programs? Also discussion re. stats manipulation.

48:00    Distinctions between new foreign workers and companies trying to retain existing ones.

54:00    How does Mike respond to allegations that he is anti-immigrant. 

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Jason Kenney was Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from 2008-2013.

1:30 – The story behind Jason Kenney showing up unannounced at a CBA Immigration Law conference.

4:30 – The difficulties of being an immigration minister and Minister Kenney’s relationship with the bureaucracy and Deanna’s thoughts on Jason Kenney’s tenure.  

9:30 – Marc Miller’s attempts to introduce a program to regularize the status of undocumented workers, and his public statements that he was overruled by Cabinet.  

16:20 – Prime Minister Harper’s teenager looking for work and the overnight imposition of the 2014 moratorium on new LMIAs in the Food Service Sector.

23:00 – Record immigration levels, wage suppression, the collapse of the general consensus on immigration, and whether Canada’s record population growth was deliberately planned or unintended.

32:15 – The introduction of Ministerial Instructions.

37:30 – Diploma mills.

41:00 – What the scariest thing Jason Kenney did as Minister.

44:15 – Ending the ability of people to simultaneously claim asylum and submit an H&C application, and soaring asylum claim numbers.

49:50 – Is there anything Minister Kenney wishes he had used the notwithstanding clause on and revisiting the 1951 Refugee Convention.

57:15 – Advice to people who are disillusioned with politics.   

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This episode originally aired on November 30, 2020.

The Honourable Chris Alexander served as Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada from July 2013 to November 2015. He represented the riding of Ajax—Pickering in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that spent 18 years in the Canadian Foreign Service, serving as Canada's first resident Ambassador to Afghnistan from 2003 - 2005. Subsequent to being an Member of Parliament he ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.As Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Mr. Alexander presided over the launch of Express Entry, the termination of the Immigrant Investor Program and the introduction of the Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, which prohibited forced and underaged marriages.

#5:09 – If there was one misconception about Canadian immigration law that Minister Alexander would like to change what would it be?

#15:00 – Bill C-24 and the revocation of citizenship for dual nationals convicted of high crimes.

#16:00 – Whether there was a strong anti-fraud and anti-exploitation mandate during Minister Alexander’s time as Minister.

#22:00 – Combatting forced marriages.

#23:00 – Preventing foreign worker abuse by sanctioning the employers who abuse them.

#26:00 – The Barbaric Cultural Practices Act36:45 – Ending the Immigrant Investor Program

#41:45 – Entrepreneurial immigration and self-employed program.

#49:00 – Points inflation in Express Entry and the increased demand for Canadian immigration.

#52:30 – The launch of Express Entry55:30 – Moving towards online applications

#57:15 – What it was like following Jason Kenney as immigration minister, and the challenges posed, if any, by Jason Kenney retaining the multiculturism portfolio, as well the immigration minister sharing immigration responsibilities with HRDC and the Minister of Public Safety.

#1:02 – The role the Prime Minister’s Office played with immigration.

#1:05 – Mr. Alexander’s immigration platform when he ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in which he called for an increase in immigration, and whether he pushed this view when he was Minister.

#1:10 – The importance of Canadian immigration and populism.

#1:15 – Open work permits on demand for people from visa exempt countries.

#1:18 – The need for immigration to adapt to changing circumstances and system racism.

#1:22 – When Minister Alexander would intervene on specific files.

#1:25 – If Minister Alexander were giving advice to a future Minister of Immigration what would the advice be?

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Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss join to discuss maintaining permanent resident status and upcoming changes to citizenship by descent law, both of which were topics in their recently published book Maintaining Permanent Residence Status and Acquiring Citizenship.

Amandeep's article in the Toronto Star about Bill C-71 can be found here.

Bill C-71 can be found here.

Cases discussed include Bi v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2012 FC 293.

Amandeep Hayer is an immigration lawyer at Hayer Law, based out of Vancouver. Lisa Middlemiss is an immigration lawyer at Middlemiss Immigration Law Inc, based out of Montreal.

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Christopher Anders is a shareholder of Parker, Butte & Lane in Oregon. He focuses his practice on representing asylum seekers before the Asylum Offices of USCIS and in removal proceedings before the Immigration Courts of EOIR.

We discuss how record refugee flows are impacting politics in both Canada and the United States.

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Sam Cooper is an award-winning investigative journalist and best-selling author. He is the founder of The Bureau, and his book, Wilful Blindness - How a Criminal network of narcos, tycoons and Chinese Communist Party agents infiltrated the West, debuted as a #1-seller on Amazon, in Canada.

We discuss the United Front, foreign interference in Canada, Canadian enforcement issues, IRCC casting a wide security screening net that seems to encompass all Chinese with STEM backgrounds, Parliamentarians allegedly involved in collusion with foreign governments, international students voting in nomination ridings, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, 3/PLA and whether things are improving.

Published cases involving inadmissibility to Canada due to membership in either the United Front or the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office include Meng v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness), Zhang v Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness) and Gao v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration).

Li v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 FC 1753 is the decision in which the Chief Justice of the Federal Court expanded the definition of espionage to include those who may be coerced by China into providing information.

The past Borderlines episode where we mentioned Lai Changxing can be found here.

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Arshdeep Kahlon is an immigration lawyer in Brampton. He was counsel in Singh v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2024 FC 1369, where the Court had to determine whether it is misrepresentation for an applicant in a visa application to not disclose that they were previously not granted entry to the United States while flagpoling.

Topics include what flagpoling is, when one should flagpole vs. applying for a visa online, misrepresentation, how judicial reviews work and advocacy strategies and tips.

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