Immigration Minister Jason Kenney: Canada

Foreign Workers Dept: In effect, Kenney envisages filling gaps in the labour market by importing more highly qualified workers on a permanent basis, helping them to hit the ground running, and curbing our reliance on temporary foreign workers in areas where joblessness is high, according to The Star. Importantly, Kenney committed his government to maintaining Canada s intake of more than 250,000 immigrants a year. We will remain one of the developed world s welcoming countries, benefiting from the skills, resources, energy and fresh ideas that newcomers bring. That s good policy when our labour force is aging and to hear Stephen Harper s government tell it, Canada s immigration system is in dire need of a fix, and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney intends to deliver it. In a meeting with the Star s editorial board this past week Kenney sketched out bold plans for a faster, more flexible system that will give the best and the brightest newcomers a better chance to succeed, and will rely less on temporary workers. While he has come in for criticism, especially on plans to curb the number of asylum-seekers we admit, there s much to like in his approach to the broader immigration file. Provided, that is, that he leavens common sense with compassion. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.