Canada: Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Canada Dept: But what does Canada want from immigrants? In the midst of an overhaul of immigration policy, Ottawa's unequivocal answer is skilled labour, according to Winnipeg Free Press. The transition has not been seamless. To clear the backlog, Ottawa jettisoned 280,000 skilled-immigrant applications received before 2008 and reimbursed $130 million in fees, exposing itself to a class-action lawsuit. But the government now estimates skilled-worker applications will be processed within a year, not the old norm of eight years and what do immigrants want most from Canada? There are as many answers to that question as there are applicants, although freedom and prosperity are obviously top attractions. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's response to skills shortages at home, and stiff global competition for skilled immigrants, has been to move from a passive system that operated on a first-come, first-served basis. Under the new activist paradigm, the priority is to receive, and even recruit, immigrants whose resumes correspond with Canada's economic priorities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.