Ignatieff: Does Sack of Hammers

United Nations

Ignatieff may be considered by many in the Liberal media circles as the next Prime Minister but after this latest statement proves, he is not smarter than a sack of hammers:

 "This is Canada, not Australia," Ignatieff said. "That means Canada has principles, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, our international obligations."-Ignatieff 

Ignatieff: Dumb as a Sack of Hammers

The Liberal leader has been blamed already for causing scuttling an investment deal in Quebec with China. The Jeffrey Mine says it had a Chinese investor lined up and willing to invest $40 million, but that its would-be partner became scared over comments from the Liberal leader. Is he willing to sabotage international relations between Canada and Australia and investments to score cheap shots?

The Convention was adopted by the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons, held at Geneva from 2 to 25 July 1951. The Conference was convened pursuant to resolution 429 (V), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14 December 1950.

The dates indicated are the dates of deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession by the respective States Parties with the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York. In accordance with article 43(2), the Convention enters into force on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit. The Protocol enters into force on the date of deposit (article VIII (2)). Exceptions are indicated below.

Country             Convention           ProtocolAustralia           22 Jan 1954 a      13 Dec 1973 a
Canada             04 Jun 1969 a      04 Jun 1969 a
http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b73b0d63.pdf

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The 1980s saw new challenges for UNHCR, with many member states unwilling to resettle refugees due to the sharp rise in refugee numbers over the 1970s. Often, these refugees were not fleeing wars between states, but inter-ethnic conflict in newly independent states. The targeting of civilians as military strategy added to the displacement in many nations, so even 'minor' conflicts could result in a large number of displaced persons. Whether in Asia, Central America or Africa, these conflicts, fueled by superpower rivalry and aggravated by socio-economic problems within the concerned countries, durale solutions continued to prove a massive challenge for the UNHCR. As a result, the UNHCR became more heavily involved with assistance programs within refugee camps, often located in hositle environments.^[1]

The end of the Cold War marked continued inter-ethnic conflict and contributed heavily to refugee flight. In addition, humanitarian intervention by multinational forces became more frequent and the media began to play a big role, particularly in the lead up to the 1999 NATO mission in Yugoslavia, while by contrast, the 1994 Rwandan Genocide had little attention. The genocide in Rwanda caused a massive refugee crisis, again highlighting the difficulties for UNHCR to uphold its mandate, and the UNHCR continued to battle against restrictive asylum policies in so called 'rich' nations.^[1]

In September 2009, UNHCR welcomed the European Commission's proposal for the establishment of a Joint EU Resettlement Programme. UNHCR encourages greater European engagement in refugee resettlement. At present, 90% of the refugees resettled every year are accepted by the United States, Canada and Australia. All European countries together provide roughly six per cent of the world's resettlement opportunities.

Liberal MPs have forced Michael Ignatieff to swallow his words and scuttle a brewing bipartisan deal on major refugee reforms, jeopardizing the bill and revealing the leader’s shaky hold on his caucus. - Liberal Party implodes

 

All hat and no cattle?

The best moment in Virtual War is when Ignatieff allows the facts to speak against his tendency to defend armed intervention. This occurs, paradoxically, when he describes Arbour's indictment of Milosevic, not NATO's bombing, as the crucial moment that turned the tide in the Kosovo war. The indictment finally took the sort of action against Milosevic that well-informed pacifists had been demanding for years. It froze his foreign assets, allowed his international bank accounts to be subpoenaed, and prevented him from traveling. Such nonviolent measures may have had a greater impact in securing the pullout of Yugoslavian troops from Kosovo than NATO's beguiling high tech weapons. -What Michael Ignatieff Left Out
So how does Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff justify singling out Australia and attacking our Prime Minister with his failed understanding of signed treaties, historical context and our stellar record on refugees?  Australia and Canada have nothing to be ashamed about and the Liberal leader demonstrates by opening his mouth in Winnipeg he removes any doubt he is no smarter than a sack of hammers.немой как мешок молотков
http://tts.imtranslator.net/BqL7

UPDATE

Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2009

Image by 精彩绝伦的表演~Perfect show...☆°♫~*.* via Flickr

Message from the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

As Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, I am pleased to present the 2009 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration.
Canadians can be very proud of the fact that throughout our history we have maintained a tradition of openness to newcomers from around the world. We have maintained the highest relative level of immigration of any major western country, attracting nearly a quarter of a million permanent residents in 2008. In 2010, we intend to welcome between 240,000 and 265,000 permanent residents.
In the past five years, Canada has relied on immigration for more than two-thirds of its population growth, and within the next decade we expect that all our labour force growth will come from immigration. This presents tremendous opportunities along with certain challenges. We need to ensure that newcomers with the professional and technical expertise Canada needs are able to enter the labour market.
With the expansion of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, we are helping foreign-trained professionals put their skills, credentials and work experience to use in Canada. As well, the increase of $1.4 billion over five years to fund settlement programs is helping newcomers obtain language training, job counselling, and information services to better integrate into Canadian society.
I am proud of what we accomplished in 2008 and continue to accomplish in 2009. We took steps to modernize our immigration process with the Action Plan for Faster Immigration, which is helping to reduce the backlog of applications from federal skilled workers and improve processing times. We implemented the new Canadian Experience Class to help international students and temporary foreign workers in Canada find a path to permanent residence, and we will continue to work with the provinces and territories to strengthen our immigration programs.
We raised awareness of unscrupulous immigration practitioners and consultants, launched a video to help protect applicants against immigration fraud and, we are working to implement fingerprint and live photo technology to help prevent identity fraud and enhance program security.
Our amendments to the Citizenship Act will protect the value of Canadian citizenship while restoring it to those who lost it under previous legislation and recognizing others as Canadian citizens for the first time.
We continued to maintain our long-standing commitments to refugee protection in 2008, welcoming almost 22,000 refugees. We have also answered the call from the international community to admit large groups when needed, including Bhutanese and Karen refugees in 2009. Canada will also more than double the number of privately sponsored Iraqi refugees it accepts from the Middle East over the next five years.

Last year, the Multiculturalism portfolio joined Citizenship and Immigration Canada to develop programming that would focus on integrating newcomers in the long term, building bridges among communities and fostering respect for Canada’s shared institutions, values and history.
Immigration will continue to be a source of economic, social and cultural growth in Canada. I look forward to the many challenges that lie ahead and wish to thank officials in the Department for helping to advance the Government’s agenda.
For more information on Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the work we are undertaking, please visit our website at www.cic.gc.ca.
The Honourable Jason Kenney, PC, MP
Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/annual-report2009/message.asp 

Federal Government had legislation to reduce immigration smuggling but Liberals broke deal.
"There's a whole industry in Canada and around the world of people who offer advice to folks who want to immigrate to Canada, and many of these people are unscrupulous operators. We call them crooked consultants," Kenney said in an interview from Toronto.
"They take money, often providing people with counterfeit documents or fraudulent advice or they don't provide any services at all in return."
Legitimate immigration consultants advise and assist prospective Canadian immigrants with their application process. They do their work for a fee.
Immigration consultants are regulated by Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) and require membership with CSIC to practise in Canada.
According to Kenney there are tens of thousands of people in Canada and abroad who have been victimized by "ghost consultants."
Kenney said the Canada Border Services Agency and other organizations have hundreds of investigations open into allegations of deceitful consultants across the country.
According to Kenney, the new legislation will:

• make it a criminal offence to operate as an unlicensed immigration consultant
• increase fines and penalties for infractions
• encourage other governments to better regulate consultants operating in their own countries

"It's a very fulsome package," Kenney said. "I think it's going to be very well-received."
Kenney can only hope this legislation has a smoother passage through government than his recent bill to reform Canada's refugee system.
After striking a deal with Liberal immigration critic Maurizio Bevilacqua to ensure quick passage of the bill before Parliament's summer recess -- including adopting many Liberal amendments to the bill -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff withdrew his party's support to seek even more changes.
The Liberals particularly oppose a provision to expedite claims from refugees who hail from so-called "safe" countries.

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