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.