Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Philippines President Benigno Aquino

: Harper made the comment as he hosted Philippines President Benigno Aquino, on the second day of his Canadian visit, according to Brandon Sun. Harper touted the Philippines as a great source of immigration to Canada and he expects those levels to grow. "This is a pro-immigration government," he said. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday he doesn't want to create a permanent underclass in Canada because of problems with the temporary foreign worker program. But Filipinos are among the many communities in Canada affected by changes to the temporary foreign worker program. The Conservative government set an April 1 deadline for temporary foreign workers in low-skilled jobs to either become permanent residents or return home. "We're making sure, first of all, obviously that immigrants are not filling jobs for which Canadians could be hired," Harper said in response to Filipino journalist question. "This country is not going to have a policy, as long as I'm prime minister, where we will have a permanent underclass of temporary people ... here forever with no rights of citizenship and no rights of mobility." Harper said the government wants to ensure that when people come to Canada they have a pathway towards becoming citizens. With a federal election in the offing this fall and with 700,000 Canadians of Filipino descent making up one of the country larger diaspora communities, Harper played down the effect of those changes. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.