slamming doors behind closed doors April 7, 2008

I’m the daughter of immigrants from India. Have you heard - apparently there are

a few of us around. my parents were poor immigrants who scrimped and saved

their way to financial freedom, all the while instilling a respect for the charter and

a frightening work ethic in all their children. it’s a typical story; one of millions

that form the foundation on which this country’s strength rests firmly.

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so maybe they thought we wouldn’t notice. or maybe they knew we would, which

is why they hid it: a small addendum to thousands of pages of bone-dry budget

bills, a tiny addition with enormous ramifications (the least of which is an election,

since all budget bills are confidence motions…why waste another opportunity to

tighten the thumbscrews).

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a word for a moment about the thumbscrewers: since they became ungovernment

they’ve cut immigration by 36,000 each year while our population growth continues

to slow. their current immigration policy hasn’t changed since it’s inception… in the

1980’s… by THE ALLIANCE. back then they wanted to slash immigration by 100,000

every year, even though the birth rate fell steadily and economic growth was limited

by an inability to fill skilled jobs.

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now our Ungovernment wants to scrap the immigration system that has made us the

envy of all immigrant-accepting countries. instead of a carefully-administered,

empirical process where potential immigrants are tested, scored and ranked

objectively they want to hand the Unminister of Unimmigration unprecedented powers

to cherry-pick certain immigrants to fast track. Besides selective line-jumping the

system will shift focus from creating new citizens to filling vacant jobs on a short-term

basis. all of this, of course, to be done by the Unminister behind closed doors.

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by the way - have you seen how they behave behind closed doors?