Canadian Immigration System "Near Collapse"

(Ottawa, Canada) Before a parliamentary committee, Immigration Minister Diane Finley proclaimed alarm regarding the backlog of immigration applications. Going from 925,000 now to 1.5 million in 2012, the system will present a 10-year wait to new faces.

Finley voiced the concern that people with high-demand skills are being lost to nations with more efficient immigration systems.

"The current system, if left unchanged, is on track to collapse under its own weight. The system needs fixing," Finley said.

"We are facing real and serious international competition for the talents and skills that we need to fill," she said, calling for a "renewed" vision for the immigration system.

The renewed system would apparently allow her to cherry-pick who gets processed and who doesn't. Helluva deal! Of course, the minister would have to be a person of infinite honesty, unbending to political pressure and impossible to bribe. Good luck finding someone with those qualities.

But Finley downplayed concerns the new law would allow her to cherry-pick immigrants.

Downplaying the concerns doesn't make them disappear, Minister Finley.

In any event, the committee wasn't very receptive to the idea -- not because immigrants would be cherry-picked but likely because they could be. Current legislation processes applications as they are received and it will not change. So, folks, get in line.