LILLEY: Ford changes tune on call for asylum seekers to get work permits
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Doug Ford both walked back and doubled down on his call for asylum seekers to get work permits. Last week, Ontario’s premier said that he would not wait around for the federal government and would start issuing provincial work permits for asylum seekers.
Under Sec. 95 of the Constitution Act, any province has the ability to pass legislation in this area, but few provinces do. Last week, Ford said that he was willing to start issuing such work permits despite the high unemployment rate in the province.
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On Monday, Ford was less strident.
“I don’t want to take the responsibility off the federal government, but in saying that, if you have a pulse and you’re healthy, you need to be working,” Ford said.
His viewpoint on this is understandable even if it is wrong.
Ford’s view is that the federal government is letting people into the country, including thousands who claim asylum under questionable circumstances. He’d rather see them working than drawing on the welfare or social services system.
In Toronto, more than 50% of the 9,000-plus beds in the city’s shelter system are taken up by asylum seekers. There are thousands more in hotel rooms across the GTA, in Hamilton, Niagara, and in Ottawa.
Still, Ford’s plan announced last week would only lead to more people making illegal and illegitimate asylum claims in the hope of getting a work permit.
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Ford’s comments are an understandable point of view, especially for an MPP who represents an area where many of these asylum seekers are housed in hotels. Ford interacts with people stuck in these federal hotels on a regular basis in his riding.
Despite his compassion for these people, Ford is wrong to want to start issuing them provincial work permits. Over the last decade, most of those claiming asylum are actually economic immigrants looking to game the system.
“We’ve got to protect our workers,” Minister for Labour and Immigration David Piccini said. “That means having systems with integrity.”
Piccini noted that he was the grandson of immigrants from Italy but that today, the system is too often abused.
“We want Ontario to succeed; we want this economy to succeed. To do it, you’ve got to ensure that people are working, and people are contributing to the economy,” Piccini said.
Ford pushed back against claims that the federal government issues work permits within 45 days of people arriving.
“Go up Airport Rd., pull over at the Tim Hortons by the Congress Centre, start talking to people, ask them how long they’ve been there. Ask them if they want to work. They all want to work, but instead we’re paying them to sit in a hotel room,” Ford said.
“I just want people working if they’re here.”
It’s an understandable position, but it is also the wrong position.
If people can work it is better than them drawing on welfare, but making it standard operating procedure that asylum seekers will get a hotel room, money for food, and a work permit will only see more people arrive in this country illegally. The policy Ford is putting forward will only make things worse, not better, in the long run.
Thankfully, he is quietly walking this idea back — while still saying the people the federal government allows into the country should be able to work rather than just draw welfare.
We need to clamp down on our out-of-control immigration system rather than making things worse.
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