Bill would not affect Immigration from India: Obhrai

While Canadian Revenue Minister Herb Dhaliwal, originally from India, has asked opposition to bring down the Government on the issue of new immigration bill, Deepak Obhrai, the topmost Indo-Canadian in the current Canadian government, has defended the new immigration bill.

The Bill intends to give sweeping powers to the government to speed up or stop immigration from any part of the world. Obhrai feels that the opposition was spreading misinformation about the bill which was actually aimed at streamlining the immigration process. He felt that the bill would actually help sort out the mess created by earlier government, because of which the waiting list swelled to 900000 from 50000.

Speaking on the issue, Obhrai said India is top source of immigration to Canada and this would continue as such.

On the contrary, Dhaliwal, who was the first Indian-origin person to become a minister anywhere in the western world in 1997, felt that that the bill would destroy the regulatory process and put all powers in the hands of the immigration minister to decide whom is let in and who is stopped. He felt that their party had introduced a fair approach which the present Conservative party wants to roll back.

Calling for rejection of the bill by the opposition, Dhaliwal said: "Our immigration system is efficient. To clear the backlog, the minister needs to put more resources into the clearing process, not focus on accumulating more powers in her hands?

He urged the opposition to defeat the bill even if it meant bringing down the government and facing a snap poll.