by: Meagan Fitzpatrick, CanWest News Service
A year after the Conservatives took office there is no sign of the agency they promised would speed up the recognition of foreign credentials of skilled immigrants. Opposition critics demanded Sunday the government — which set aside $18 million in the last budget to develop the agency — release concrete details about the Canadian Agency for Assessment and Recognition of Credentials. “This was their flagship issue at a lot of events and functions that they attended with an audience of new Canadians,” Liberal MP Omar Alghabra said. “In their campaign there was no ambiguity, no subtlety, no hesitation. And now that they’ve been in government, all of a sudden it appears to be complicated, and that’s what frustrates me and many Canadians.” With more than 400 regulatory bodies, 10 provinces and three territories, creating a new national office has been “complex” but it is on the way, the government insisted. Credential recognition is a provincial responsibility that involves the associations that regulate certain professions such as medicine and engineering.
Alghabra, the Liberal critic for citizenship and immigration, said the Conservatives acted during the campaign as though they had “the silver bullet.” He said the agency’s mandate should be clear. The fact that no announcement has been made on that, or any other feature of the agency, shows the Tories weren’t genuine in their promise to voters, he said. “It seems they have exploited the angst of many Canadians, who are looking towards their government to fix this problem, for their own political expediency.” Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship has worked with Immigration Canada over the past year to develop the new agency but critics won’t have to continuing waiting. “We have been meeting with all of our key stakeholders including the provinces, employers, and regulatory bodies and have been working towards creating a model for this entity,” said Jeffrey Pender, a spokesman for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
“We’re now putting the final touches on it and we’re hoping to be able to announce something as quickly as possible.” Pender refused to provide details about the agency’s structure, or its responsibilities. “Rest assured we are doing this as quickly as possible and as thoroughly as possible … there’s a lot happening, improvements are definitely being made,” Pender said. But if the government started from scratch to create the agency, it wasted a lot of time, argued Alghabra, because it should have used the groundwork laid by the Liberals in 2005 when it established a Foreign Credential Recognition Secretariat. “… This isn’t a partisan issue, this is a Canadian issue,” he added. The NDP is also anxiously awaiting for results. “It’s not hard to do something for immigrants, it’s just a complete lack of political will,” said Olivia Chow, the party’s immigration critic. “They probably think that if they go to enough banquets, make enough announcements no one will notice that it hasn’t been done.” Immigration Minister Diane Finley said in a statement last month the government is committed to getting it done, and announcements will be made “in the coming weeks.”
A year after the Conservatives took office there is no sign of the agency they promised would speed up the recognition of foreign credentials of skilled immigrants. Opposition critics demanded Sunday the government — which set aside $18 million in the last budget to develop the agency — release concrete details about the Canadian Agency for Assessment and Recognition of Credentials. “This was their flagship issue at a lot of events and functions that they attended with an audience of new Canadians,” Liberal MP Omar Alghabra said. “In their campaign there was no ambiguity, no subtlety, no hesitation. And now that they’ve been in government, all of a sudden it appears to be complicated, and that’s what frustrates me and many Canadians.” With more than 400 regulatory bodies, 10 provinces and three territories, creating a new national office has been “complex” but it is on the way, the government insisted. Credential recognition is a provincial responsibility that involves the associations that regulate certain professions such as medicine and engineering.
Alghabra, the Liberal critic for citizenship and immigration, said the Conservatives acted during the campaign as though they had “the silver bullet.” He said the agency’s mandate should be clear. The fact that no announcement has been made on that, or any other feature of the agency, shows the Tories weren’t genuine in their promise to voters, he said. “It seems they have exploited the angst of many Canadians, who are looking towards their government to fix this problem, for their own political expediency.” Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship has worked with Immigration Canada over the past year to develop the new agency but critics won’t have to continuing waiting. “We have been meeting with all of our key stakeholders including the provinces, employers, and regulatory bodies and have been working towards creating a model for this entity,” said Jeffrey Pender, a spokesman for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
“We’re now putting the final touches on it and we’re hoping to be able to announce something as quickly as possible.” Pender refused to provide details about the agency’s structure, or its responsibilities. “Rest assured we are doing this as quickly as possible and as thoroughly as possible … there’s a lot happening, improvements are definitely being made,” Pender said. But if the government started from scratch to create the agency, it wasted a lot of time, argued Alghabra, because it should have used the groundwork laid by the Liberals in 2005 when it established a Foreign Credential Recognition Secretariat. “… This isn’t a partisan issue, this is a Canadian issue,” he added. The NDP is also anxiously awaiting for results. “It’s not hard to do something for immigrants, it’s just a complete lack of political will,” said Olivia Chow, the party’s immigration critic. “They probably think that if they go to enough banquets, make enough announcements no one will notice that it hasn’t been done.” Immigration Minister Diane Finley said in a statement last month the government is committed to getting it done, and announcements will be made “in the coming weeks.”
