Pubdate: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Sudbury Star Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/608 TORY'S PROPOSALS WORTH A GOOD LOOK Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader John Tory has been busy offering up policy announcements over the past couple of weeks. We shall take a look at two: his proposal to speed up the immigration and employment process for skilled labour and his call to create a public registry for marijuana grow-ops. Both proposals are interesting, and at first glance, offer sound benefits to Ontario. Both, however, leave unanswered questions. Tory wants to reduce barriers that keep skilled immigrants unemployed - - or underemployed - for long periods of time after they arrive in Canada. We've all heard the stories so often that by now they've become folklore: the foreign-trained doctor who arrives in Canada only to end up driving a taxi; the engineer who works as a school custodian. The current accreditation process for immigrants with foreign training is so slow that many give up on their careers in frustration. In some cases, it has led to suicide. Tory wants foreign-trained professionals to acquire some Canadian accreditation in their homelands before they arrive, so they are further along when they get here, and they know what they're getting into. (Too often, foreign-trained professionals don't realize how long it takes to practise their crafts in Canada.) He also wants to make the points system - which rates potential immigrants to match them with Canada's needs - more flexible so that as the provinces' job needs change, so does the points system. Tory has also suggested developing a one-time solution for the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in Ontario. (While he may find a practical solution to this one, a politically acceptable solution is a different story.) Most important to Greater Sudbury, he wants to fast-track immigrants with key skills who are willing to settle outside of the province's major urban areas. First, immigration is federal jurisdiction, so anything the province wants to do must be blessed by Ottawa, which will likely have to provide resources to fulfil Tory's plan. How will Tory achieve this in a practical manner? Second, Ontario draws about 150,000 immigrants a year - about 20,000 of them trained professionals. Watching over all these people - and making sure they're properly qualified - sounds like an entirely new ministry. What kind of bureaucracy is needed? How much will it cost? And how will Tory make sure immigrants who agree to settle outside of Toronto do so? This has been proposed in the past and it's been suggested that immigrants could easily renege on any deal, since it's likely unconstitutional to force them to live anywhere. How will he assure that immigrants keep their end of the bargain? Next, grow-ops. Tory wants to establish a province-wide registry for homes used to grow pot. More than 450 grow-ops have been discovered this year, and a recent high-profile discovery of 22 in one Toronto-area apartment building has highlighted the problem. Northern Ontario has become such a popular place for grow-ops that in August, Greater Sudbury police issued a news release asking people to keep a watch out for grow-ops because plants are ready for harvesting at that time of year. In April, local police discovered seven grow-ops in one week. There are often health concerns linked to grow-ops. The high moisture content of homes involved often leaves dangerous mould, which can cause serious health problems. People who live nearby worry about crime in their neighbourhood and people who buy houses that were used as grow-ops are concerned about what hazards remain. The registry sounds like a good idea, but absent landlords who weren't aware of their tenants' nefarious activities will pay a heck of a price due to the stigma associated with their properties. Is this fair? How long should a former grow-op remain registered? And what about the innocents who live nearby, in an otherwise quiet neighbourhood? Their properties can be labelled as a crime area. Tory's ideas are interesting, and curiously, they require heavy government action - a little different for a Conservative - but both are worth a good look and more debate. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine