Stephen Harper won’t allow ‘permanent underclass’ of temporary foreign workers

Welcome reaffirmation of the value of immigration, leading to citizenship, rather than more temporary status.

However, a bit ironic, given that some of the changes to the citizenship program are leading to a greater share of some visible minority groups who are likely to remain permanent residents, unable to attain citizenship with the full panoply of rights that entails.

Harper said his government wants to make sure that immigrants were not filling jobs that Canadians could do.

“Just as importantly, we’re making sure that when people come to this country to work and to work long-term, they have the ability to move towards being permanent citizens of this country,” he said.

“This country is not going to have a policy, as long as I’m prime minister, where we will have a permanent underclass of … people who are so-called temporary, but here forever, with no rights of citizenship and no rights of mobility.

“That is not the Canadian way we do immigration. So we’re going to make sure that program does not drift in that direction,” he said.

Stephen Harper won’t allow ‘permanent underclass’ of temporary foreign workers – Politics – CBC News.