¡¡¡¡×Ô¼ÓÄô󹫲¼ÐÂÒÆÃñ·¨¹æÒÔÀ´£¬Õë¶Ôз¨¹æÖеÄÖÖÖÖÎÊÌ⣬¼ÓÄôóC&Cå¾Çò¹«Ë¾Ê×ϯ´ú±íÃÏ·±»Ô¼°ÒÆÃñ¹ËÎÊÂí¿ËÍþÎ÷¶à´ÎÖº¯¸ø¼ÓÄôóÒÆÃñ²¿³¤¡¢ÒÆÃñ²¿ÆäËûÊ×ÄÔ¡¢ÒÔ¼°ÖÚ¶àµÄ¹ú»áÒéÔ±£¬Ç¿ÁÒÅúÆÀз¨¹æÖеIJ»ºÏÀíÖ®´¦£¬²¢Ìá³öÐí¶à½¨ÉèÐÔÒâ¼û¡£ÕâЩÅúÆÀºÍ½¨ÒéÒ²ÔÚ¼ÓÄôóµÄÈô¸ÉÓÐÓ°ÏìµÄ±¨Ö½·¢±í¡£C&Cå¾Çò¹«Ë¾µÄÒâ¼ûµÃµ½ÁËÏ൱ÊýÁ¿¹ú»áÒéÔ±µÄÖ§³Ö¡£ÒÔÏÂÊǼÓÄôóÇ°×ÜÀíJoeClarkÏÈÉú¸ø¹«Ë¾Ê×ϯ´ú±íÃÏ·±»Ô¼°ÒÆÃñ¹ËÎÊÂí¿ËÍþÎ÷ÏÈÉúµÄ»ØÐÅ£º

¡¡¡¡Dear Mr. Meng and Mr. McWethy,

¡¡¡¡Thank you for your e-mail. I appreciate your taking the time and the effort to write to me and share your concerns about the changes that this government has introduced to Canadian immigration procedures.

¡¡¡¡Canada is a country of immigrants. Immigration has profoundly shaped this nation throughout its history. Canada has benefited immensely from immigration in the past, and it continues to do so today.

¡¡¡¡Today, immigration has become perhaps even more important because Canada has an aging population and a declining birth rate. These two trends combined will greatly affect Canada¡¯s society and economy in the coming years. It will place a greater and greater strain on a smaller workforce, while a larger and larger share of resources will have to be devoted to health care and support of an expanding elderly population. Without an influx of immigrants, our population, labour force and economy will begin to contract. Immigration will allow Canada to continue to grow and prosper in the years ahead, providing skills and people that this country needs.

¡¡¡¡There can be no doubt that immigration is reshaping our society. However, though there may be difficulties, it is my belief that Canadians, wherever they were born, can continue to work together to build a strong and prosperous society.

¡¡¡¡My colleagues and I have been raising similar concerns in the House of Commons. Below, I have included a copy of a press release issued by my colleague, MP Inky Mark, who serves as our Immigration Critic, dealing with the changes that have been introduced. Mr. Mark shall be raising this issue again when the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration meets to discuss the proposed Regulations once the House of Commons re-opens.

¡¡¡¡Thank you for your correspondence.

¡¡¡¡Best wishes,

¡¡¡¡Joe Clark

¡¡¡¡For Immediate Release January 14, 2002

¡¡¡¡False denials: Mark calls Liberals bluff Ottawa¡ªInky Mark, PC-DR Coalition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration was surprised to learn that Liberal MPs were¡°caught off guard¡±by the implementation regulations of Bill C-11 released in December.

¡¡¡¡¡°I don¡¯t know how they could possibly have not known about this. Mr. Assad, who was quoted as saying that Liberal MP¡¯s were caught off guard and that the retroactive clause was unfair, was at the Committee meeting where I presented an amendment to correct this problem. He and his Liberal colleagues voted to defeat my amendment,¡±Mark said.

¡¡¡¡¡°On the May 17, 2001 Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration meeting, Mark moved that Clause 190 of Bill C-11 be amended to read coming into force of this section shall not be governed by this Act on that coming into force for a period of one year.¡±That amendment would have meant that all cases currently in the system awaiting decision would be processed by the previous Immigration Act for one year following the implementation of Bill C-11. After a short debate on the amendment, it was defeated.

¡¡¡¡¡°In fact, I recall the Chair of that meeting, Liberal MP, Joe Fontana, saying that because Bill C-11 was touted as being the magic bullet legislation to fix Immigration it would be better to process those who were already in the system under the new legislation,¡±Mark said. Minutes of the May 17, 2001 meeting indicate that Fontana did say that the government does not usually get into retroactive legislation.¡±He went on to say that¡°we believe this bill is better than what we have in many, many ways.¡±An Assistant Deputy Minister from Citizenship and Immigration Canada as well as the Deputy Director of Economic Policy and Programs for the same department explained that by running the dual process systems would be just too difficult to manage and explain to clients.

¡¡¡¡¡°This excuse that the Liberals didn¡¯t know that the retroactive clause was in the Bill just doesn¡¯t wash. They are trying to cover themselves from the firestorm of controversy that will surround the implementation of Bill C-11.

¡¡¡¡The Liberal government will have to account for the way they clear up the backlog of some 500,000 people. I look forward to dealing with this issue when we return to Ottawa through the Committee meetings,¡±Mark concluded.