Conservative immigration critic won't add values test into party's immigration plan
'I don’t want my government determining which values it supports and which it doesn’t,' MP Tom Kmiec told True North's Andrew Lawton.
The Official Opposition’s immigration critic wants immigration levels tied to the labour and housing market but won’t commit to reducing the current quotas.
On Saturday, Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec refrained from replacing the federal government’s arbitrary immigration quotas with more arbitrary numbers.
According to the Calgary member of Parliament, the immigration debate should focus on building more housing, if more immigration is desired.
“Whatever it comes out to, that will be the number,” he said on The Andrew Lawton Show. “If it’s lower, it’s lower. If it’s higher, it’s higher.”
Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre expressed a similar sentiment in an earlier interview.
Lawton asked if immigration should be restricted by Canadian values tests. Kmiec did not commit to the idea.
“I don’t want my government determining which values it supports and which it doesn’t and the reason I don’t like it is that for the last nine years, that’s been the Liberal government of Canada,” he clarified.
True North’s Andrew Lawton caught up with Kmiec at the Canada Strong and Free Conference in Ottawa to discuss the Conservatives’ plan to address the immigration system. pic.twitter.com/jotRsNfjI8
— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) April 14, 2024
“I believe things like health care, housing jobs, all Canadians can get behind,” added Kmiec. “There’s no subjectivity to them, you either have those services or you don’t.”
For example, skilled health-care workers do not benefit from the current immigration plan and lack of credential recognition programs, he contends.
“We have over 20,000 internationally trained doctors who cannot practice their profession,” said Kmiec. “Same thing for nurses. The country of origin lost a nurse, and we didn’t gain a nurse.”
On determining the appropriate immigration levels, the critic said it would incorporate permanent and temporary resident immigration.
“The problem isn’t the permanent residency ones; those PR numbers are often quoted by individuals. In Canada, about 45% to 55% of those, depending on the year, are people who are actually physically in Canada already,” said Kmiec.
“They are just changing their status from studying, from working here on a temporary work permit and they’re becoming permanent residents of Canada, hopefully, on the pathway to becoming citizens and joining the Canadian family,” he added.
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