Canadian Lawyer

38 A P R I L 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m eginning in early March, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada began accepting up to 2,000 per- manent resident applications under the new Atlantic Immigration Pilot. "It's an innovative first," says Suzanne Rix, a partner at Cox & Palmer's Halifax office, of the three-year pilot program. "We have some high hopes." Under the pilot, the federal and provincial governments of the Atlan- tic provinces will work together with employers in the Atlantic region. Busi- nesses can offer employment to foreign workers with the requirement that they help the worker settle, and the federal government has committed to process- ing applications for permanent resi- dency in six to 12 months. The pilot is part of the federal gov- ernment's shift toward a more welcom- ing immigration stance. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was campaign- ing, changes to immigration policy formed a large part of his platform, and since taking office in 2015, there have been some notable changes, with more expected. Rix says one gets the impression the Trudeau government is trying to be transparent and open. "Are they perfect, no, but do they represent the values of the majority of Canadians? I think yes," she says. For Mario Bellissimo, of Bellissimo Law Group in Toronto, one of the biggest changes was the "new normal" for the number of immigrants Canada will take in this year — the highest level since 1913. "We are an aging country — a high percentage of our population is over the age of 50. There's no question Canada's demographics absolutely demand a seri- ous infusion of immigrants," he says of the hike to 300,000 from 250,000. But there has to be a corresponding resource allocation, he says, adding that the government is hoping the increasing rollout of modernization and automation will make processing applications faster. Kevin Zemp, of Zemp Law Group in Calgary, Alta., says a lot depends on how the number is broken down. Take the increase to 10,000 from 5,000 for the parent/grandparent pro- gram — there's an economic cost to that. As elderly people, they're "prob- ably not going to contribute as much to the tax base as they're going to consume in health-care expenses. "I support it, but if you just look at some of the financial considerations, some people would say that's a terrible L E G A L R E P O RT \ I M M I G R AT I O N MATTHEW BILLINGTON Trudeau's immigration promises Lawyers are cautiously optimistic that the Liberals can continue their positive momentum By Mallory Hendry B

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