Pick me!

It seems as if the government is moving closer to passing Bill C-31, the amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act it proposed last month. The system aims to decrease backlog (though it only applies to applications received after Feb 2008) and fast-track those applicants who have the skills most needed in the Canadian labour market.

Speaking of backlog, in the CIC FAQ on the topic I found this interesting tidbit, answering a nagging question:

...just before the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was implemented in 2002, there was a flood of applications from people who wanted to get their applications in before the new rules took effect.

It seems that this applies to the skilled worker class only, in which it can currently take up to, wait for it, 68 months. In theory, anything to reduce this wait will be a good thing, and setting annual limits would help stop the strain on resources (because as nice as it is to let everybody in, what's the point if we're not going to back it up with money?) but I'm suspicious of the Conservatives and how they might play this (a stripper ban?). Critics say that this will block people who are coming to be reunited with their families, and it remains to be seen if resources from family class will be diverted or if the money promised to immigration will cover new resources. It's also unclear how those doctors and other badly needed professionals will be integrated once they arrive...how's about a bill on that, boys?