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Canada’s leading immigration reform organization, the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee, gave a cautious endorsement to the main trust of the immigration stands of the new Canadian Alliance, adopted at the United Alternative meeting in Ottawa, January 27-29.

“The Canadian Alliance’s stand on immigration is good as far as it goes, although it remains rather general,” says CFIRC Director Paul Fromm, who attended the meeting as a delegate from Ontario. “However, it still puts too much emphasis on economic considerations, rather than carrying capacity and maintaining ethnic balance,” Fromm adds.

The Canadian Alliance policy on immigration states: “We see Canada as a land built by immigrants and will continue to welcome new immigrants. We support sponsorship for immediate family members. Our immigration policy will take into account Canada’s economic needs and will introduce greater fairness and security into the system, including enforcement of sponsorship obligations. We will work co-operatively with the provinces on the settlement of immigrants.”

[Visit the United Alternative Website for more information on the Canadian Alliance]

“The assertion that Canada has been ‘built’ by immigrants is simplistic,” Fromm argues. “Settlers from the motherlands, England and France, were the first pioneers and the founders of this great Dominion. While many subsequent immigrants have made a contribution, some of the recent ones are a serious detriment in terms of their inability to work, the diseases they bring, or the crimes they commit,” he explains.” Still, the emphases on security and greater enforcement are positive,” he adds.

A second Canadian Alliance stand insists: “We want to protect the integrity of the valuable contribution made to the fabric of Canada by millions of law-abiding immigrants. We will not allow their good reputation to be jeopardized by non-citizens who engage in criminal activity and will speedily deport such individuals once their sentence has been served.”

“This promise to crack down on the criminal element among immigrants is long overdue and positive,” comments Fromm.

The third Canadian Alliance immigration plank states: “We affirm Canada’s humanitarian obligation to welcome genuine refugees and are proud that our country has provided a safe haven for distressed people from across the world. To ensure fairness and to end gueue-jumping we will immediately deport bogus refugees and other illegal entrants, and will severely penalize those who organize abuse of the system. We will ensure that refugee status is arbitrated expeditiously, consistently and professionally. We will end the abuse of refugee claim as a fast track to gain the benefits of landed immigrant status.”

“We deny that Canada has any obligation to welcome refugees,” Fromm argues. “We may have an obligation to help, perhaps with money for refugee maintenance abroad. Our welcome of refugees must be balanced by their ability, both in terms of language and skills, to fit in. As well, the numbers of refugees must not exceed our ability to absorb them. The cost of welfare, training, and language instruction is steep.” That said, Fromm added, “the promise of swift deportation for bogus refugees and punishment for the snakeheads is much needed common sense.”

” However, the Canadian Alliance is going to have to be ready to introduce ‘notwithstanding’ legislation to overcome the meddling of the Supreme Court which has virtually given carte blanche to illegals to camp in Canada,” he warned.

On multiculturalism, the Canadian Alliance recognizes that there are many cultures in Canada, but that their preservation and promotion should be an individual not taxpayer-funded enterprise. “We affirm Canada as a society where people of different races and cultural backgrounds live and work together as Canadians, and we welcome the resulting cultural enrichment and enhanced economic prosperity. We will, therefore, uphold the freedom of individuals and families to nurture aspect of culture that are important to them. While cherishing our diversity, we believe that multiculturalism is a personal choice and should not be publicly funded.”

“The Canadian Alliance’s stand on multiculturalism repeats the unproven mantra that multiculturalism has enriched, rather than divided us. Equally absurd is the claim that it has enhanced economic prosperity,” says Fromm. “However, the conclusion of the policy is a welcome return to individual responsibility and common sense,” Fromm praised.