LILLEY: Ford's plan to give asylum seekers work permits a huge mistake

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Last year, more than 90,000 people made asylum claims in Ontario, and it seems Premier Doug Ford wants that number to go up.

That will be the result, intended or not, of Ford’s declaration that he wants to have the province start handing out work permits to asylum seekers.

Ford made the comments at the close of the meetings he and other premiers held this week in Huntsville.

“We will be issuing our own work permits. We aren’t going to sit around and wait for the federal government,” Ford said.

At a time of high unemployment, it seems puzzling that Ford would be pushing for more workers in the system, but that’s what he is doing, and the unintended consequence will be to encourage more people to come to Canada illegally and declare asylum.

Ford says his government will use Section 95 of the Constitution Act to grant work permits.

His reasoning, according to his staff, is that the federal government is allowing large numbers of people to come into the country this way — they are ending up on social assistance and costing the system money when they could be working. Ford’s riding of Etobicoke North is home to one of the hotels that houses many asylum seekers, and he’s heard from several that they would rather be working.

His position is understandable from a compassionate point of view and from the perspective of letting them work rather than being a drain on the system. It’s a horrible idea from the perspective of what it will do to our system.

Ontario’s unemployment rate currently stands at 7.8%, that’s well above the national average of 6.9%. Youth unemployment stands at 15.8% and many of the jobs that the asylum seekers would be able to get with a work permit would be the same entry-level jobs that young people would be seeking.

Regionally, Toronto’s unemployment rate stands at 9.6%, Oshawa at 9.1%, Kingston at 8.4%, Hamilton at 8.1%, and Windsor at a staggering 12.3%.

Into this, Ford wants to unleash more than 100,000 people who have sought asylum over the past few years and have yet to be granted work permits?

How about he puts pressure on the federal government to fix their broken system?

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We had an average of 1,500 people per month last year showing up at airports in Toronto and Ottawa and declaring asylum. We’ve designed a system where we’ve let in millions of temporary foreign workers and international students, and thousands of them are now declaring asylum rather than leaving the country when their permits expire.

We are encouraging an abuse of our asylum system, which is supposed to be there for legitimate refugees who are fleeing war or persecution.

If Ford, or any of the other premiers, begins handing out work permits to asylum seekers, then word will spread around the world — don’t follow the system, just go to Ontario, declare asylum, get a work permit and never leave.

However well-intentioned Ford’s idea is, it’s also wrong and has to be stopped. If the premier won’t listen to reason, then his cabinet and caucus should push back against the idea and tell him that they simply will not support it.

This has to be stopped.

blilley@postmedia.com