Election ~ Fall ‘08
This page was maintained from September 2008-October 2008, during the last federal election.
ON THE CAMPAIGN ~ alerts and news on events/announcements by the political parties, NGOs, media that occur during the campaign that address issues of immigrant children and families.
GENERAL INFORMATION ~ links to Elections Canada, current Members of Parliament, the 5 federal parties and other related links.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA ~ most have dedicated pages on the Fall ‘08 campaign.
NGOs ON THE ELECTION ~ as groups organize and publish their “questions to ask candidates”, we’ll post links to these sections here.
~ ON THE CAMPAIGN
Mon Oct 13 – Aljazeera story on the Arab-Immigrant vote in Canada.
Sat Oct 11 – The Canadian Press on Diane Finley’s re-election hopes and the tenuous position she finds herself in as “one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s most trusted cabinet colleagues. Immigration Minister Diane Finely, who spearheaded Harper’s child care allowance and an overhaul to the immigration system is fighting for her seat in a riding where anger toward her is palpable“.
Sat Oct 11 – the Ukranian Canadian Congress, like other groups, issued a series of questions to the five main parties. Today, they have posted responses from all five parties. I believe that the Canadian Council for Refugees is still awaiting responses to their questions from four of the five parties; the NDP is the only party to have responded to date.
Thurs Oct 9 – The CBC’s “The Current” will examine the immigrant vote and look at how immigrants voting preferences may be shifting. (Podcasts available for downloading).
Mon Oct 6 – LINK, online edition of “Canada’s Leading Indo-Canadian Newspaper” reports on “the anti-immigrant agenda of the Harper Conservatives”.
Sun Oct 5 – Immigration tops all-candidates meeting in Vancouver West where, according to the article, more than half the questions were on immigration. It’s not known if there were specific questions or mentions of immigrant children, but the NDP did raise the topic of family reunification.
Thurs Oct 2 – The Leaders’ Debate does not include any questions or discussion of immigration.
Wed Oct 1 – The Toronto Star reports on the activities of No One is Illegal, Toronto in putting the issue of immigrants, refugees and people living without status on the election agenda.
Wed Oct 1 – South Asian Post profiles a handful of visible-minority/New Canadians running in the election.
Tues Sept 30 – Canadian Immigrant Magazine finds that immigration is not being discussed in this election and is rarely included in polls.
Tues Sept 30 – A Coalition of: Amnesty International, YWCA of/du Canada, National Association of Women and the Law, Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, Step It Up Campaign and No One is Illegal, Toronto to hold a press conference Oct 2nd on violence against immigrant women.
Mon Sept 29 – The Toronto Star reports the “Immigration system overhaul on hold”, until after the election, citing evidence that the Conservatives are interested in moving toward the Australian model.
Fri Sept 26 – The Chronicle reports that Diane Finley, MP for Haldimand Norfolk ON and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration will not attend her local all-candidates debate in Dunnville on Oct 2nd.
Wed Sept 24 – The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) announces the upcoming release of the book, “The Harper Record”. From a CCPA news release: “every aspect of the Harper minority government’s administration. From the economy to the environment, from social programs to foreign policy, from health care to tax cuts, from the Afghanistan mission to the tar sands, from free trade to deep integration, and to many other areas of this government’s record, the authors have dug out the facts and analyzed them”. A chapter on migrant workers is included. Conceived before the election, this book will be an important resource now. Available online now.
Mon Sept 22 – The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) releases a guide to social issues in the election, developed by a pan-Canadian collaboration of social planning organizations, including the Social Planning and Research Council of BC, the CCCSD, Community Development Halton, the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, and the Human Development Council of Saint John. Immigration is highlighted as an employment and inclusion issue.
Thurs Sept 18 – The Ottawa Citizen runs an op-ed charging that there are too many immigrants coming into Canada and election promises to increase rates should not be kept, by whoever wins.
Wed Sept 17 – The National Post on the “new strategy on immigration” in their online blog and in the paper, reports on a Wilfrid Laurier University study examining the voting trends of non-Christians in “Minority Faiths Tend to go Liberal”.
Wed Sept 17 – Embassy outlines the Conservative’s outreach to immigrants strategy in this long piece that details the series of “immigrant friendly policies” instituted by the Conservative’s over their stint in government.
Tues Sept 16 – Canwest News, canada.com, on Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney’s charge that the Bloc Quebecois is “playing to voters’ xenophobia”.
Tues Sept 16 – The Epoch Times reports on the meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the “ethnic media”.
Tues Sept 16 – Metro, the GTAs commuter paper features an op-ed by certified immigration specialist Guidy Mamman and challenges voters to review the Liberal party’s record on immigration.
Tues Sept 16 – OCASI, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, has received a response from the Liberal Party in response to a set of questions on immigration.
Sun Sept 14 – The Epoch Times reports on Jack Layton’s visit with the “ethnic media”. The NDP are – so far – the only party to raise the issue of family reunification.
Sun Sept 14 – The Green Party on child care. A pledge to resurrect the (Liberal) 2005 pan-Canadian child care plan and a commitment to ensuring every child in Canada is exposed to the empathy skills-building program, Roots of Empathy. They also have a position on immigration.
Sun Sept 14 – The Toronto Star article on the “immigration overhaul” promised by Dion: “Last spring the Conservative government gave the immigration minister sweeping discretionary powers to reject whole categories of immigration applications,” said Dion. “When I am elected prime minister I will immediately reverse these unfair and dangerous immigration changes.” Is this why the Liberals didn’t vote against the amendments in Bill C-50? Dion was in a position to stop the “unfair and dangerous immigration changes” in June. Does he think he has to be PM to make any impact?
Sat Sept 13 – Liberal speech given today in Richmond BC is on immigration. Readers of this blog will find it curious to learn the Liberals find fault in current immigration policy when they did nothing to prevent passage of the changes in Bill C-50. From the speech, posted on the liberal.ca site today, though, this claim to “repeal the Conservatives amendments…we don’t need to give the Minister of Immigration arbitrary power. It is the wrong approach – I reject it. What I want is due process, a system that gives everyone a fair chance…”,
Fri Sept 12 – Conservatives release a statement on Canada’s economic prosperity, citing the recent changes to immigration policy as one mechanism for ensuring Canada’s future and current labour needs are met. See their website for “Leadership for a Canada that Competes”.
Fri Sept 12 – Calgary Home Builders Association calls for an immigration criteria “to allow people with the skills the country needs most to get in first rather than by what day they applied” .
Fri Sept 12 – Peel wants points. The Region of Peel leads a group of big-city municipalities in calling on federal candidates to bring back the points system for immigration.
Thurs Sept 11 – CBC invites questions for Oct 2nd Debate. Send questions to question@electiondebate08.ca.
Thurs Sept 11th – The NDPs “Fair Immigration for a Stronger Canada” is the only party policy/position that has so far addressed family reunification.
Wed Sept 10th – The National Post online itemizes Harper’s strategy to attract ‘the immigrant vote’. The piece, titled “Immigrants R Us” highlights activities of the last few days activities in and around the GTA and citing that the Conservatives are running 45-50 visible minority candidates – more than any other party.
Wed Sept 10th – The Guardian (UK) alerts people that a 2nd federal election in North America warrants their attention. Reporter Heather McRobie informs readers of the Harper government’s record, including the “legislative changes giving Canada’s immigration department unprecedented powers to reject immigration applications as well as setting back truly universal childcare plans in favour of childcare allowances”.
Tues Sept 9th – The Toronto Star reports on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s “targeted outreach to ethnic communities” with the PMs early morning visit yesterday to a Chinese-Canadian family in BC. The PM: “First and foremost, they are middle-class Canadians who face most of the same challenges and opportunities that every middle-class Canadian family faces. We want to make sure our policies address their concerns”.
Tues Sept 9th – The Brantford Expositor reveals that the Liberal candidate up against incumbent Conservative candidate Diane Finely (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) in the riding of Haldimand-Norfolk is Eric Hoskins of War Child Canada. An ideal place to raise issues of (immigrant) children’s rights!
Mon Sept 8th – The Vancouver Sun reports that the BC NDP campaign will mount a “backlash” against both Liberals and Conservatives on the passage of controversial changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in Bill C-50. BC ridings Vancouver-Kingsway, Fleetwood-Port Kells and Newton-North Delta have large immigrant populations.
Mon Sept 8th – The Toronto Star on NDP Leader Jack Layton’s attack on the Liberals for their support of Bill C-50, resulting in, what Layton calls “…a law which serves only the demands of business and ignores the needs of immigrants and families”.
Mon Sept 8th – The National Post reminding us about the Liberal Party’s stated opposition to Bill C-50/immigration policy changes and their record in not voting against it.
~ GENERAL INFORMATION
Information on Electoral Process in 27 Heritage Languages & 8 Aboriginal Languages, Elections Canada
THE CONSERVATIVES
The Conservative Party of Canada
The November, 2008 Conservative Convention
THE LIBERALS
THE NDP
The New Democratic Party of Canada
BLOC QUEBECOIS
THE GREEN PARTY OF CANADA
~ MAINSTREAM MEDIA SITES ON THE ELECTION
~ NGOs ON THE ELECTION
The Wellesley Institute ~ Election 2008 Primer: Housing, Homelessness, and Health and the 2008 Federal Election
The Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) ~ Federal Election 2008 Questions for Candidates
The Canadian School Boards Association ~ Election 2008 Survey
Childcare Resource and Research Unit ~ Early Childhood Education and Care in the 2008 Federal Election
Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care ~ Federal Election 2008 Early Learning and Child Care Key to Canada’s Economic Future
Canadian Social Research Links ~ 2008 Federal Election
Canadian Council on Refugees ~ Federal Election 2008
Canadian Council on Social Development ~ Canada Votes!
Council of Canadians ~ Voters Guide
September 11th, 2008 at 12:24 am
[...] III: The Election – Fall ‘08 page at immigrantchildren.ca is a must see. They’re gathering “questions to ask [...]