essy86 said:
I know the call centre is not very reliable, but I called them regarding my situation today and the guy told me the new law is coming into force on June 19th, and kept asking me to "monitor the situation".
I became eligible today, but I'm going to give it another week as I had a few trips abroad. I asked the call centre if anything would happen within a week, and he reassured me that nothing is going to happen by June 19th.
Certainly not a reliable source, but it's reassuring in my case. Thought I can share this information with you guys!
You could apply as soon as tomorrow (not today, since you just became eligible today, and as noted above the applicant must be qualified as of the day
before the application is made) . . . and indeed, you are among those for whom the looming coming-into-force date really matters. A week's buffer is probably a good idea. Odds are probably good the effective date will not be this week or even next week . . . but we really do not know what the date will be.
In terms of watching the weather build on the horizon; good news versus bad news:
The
Good News for those still on the cusp, and hoping to apply before the revised requirements take effect, is that today was not the day . . . we still do not know what the relevant
coming-into-force date will be.
The
Bad News is how poorly this government keeps its information updated. And because of this, there is an increased likihood the effective date will arrive with no advance notice as to what it will be precisely . . . unless the most recent Order from the Governor in Council specifies future dates for these provisions to come into force (in which case, we would learn those dates when the Order is published).
The Parliamentary Business web page for Bill C-24 is now updated and purports to be "current as of
June 1, 2015," and there is no hint at this web page that the Governor in Council has made an Order fixing the date that section 8 of the
SCCA (replacing section 10 in the
Citizenship Act) comes into force.
In contrast, as referenced and linked extensively here, CIC's news and, more specifically its Program Delivery Instructions, indicate that Section 8 of the
SCCA came into force last Friday, May 29, 2015.
Both cannot be accurate.
The most likely explanation is that the Parliamentary Business update is dependent on the formal and official publication of the Governor in Council's Order, which will be published in the Gazette, and which has not been published as yet. That is, that the CIC web site is accurate and the Parliamentary Business web site will not be updated to reflect this until the Order is published in the Gazette.
And I am now suspecting the same might be true for the Privy Council Office database, that it too might not be populated with the Order made by Governor in Council until the Order is officially published in the Gazette, although it might be reflected in the Privy Council Office database first (since the Privy Council Office must approve the Order to be published in the Gazette).
While the Gazette may publish an extra issue of Part II tomorrow, the most likely scenario is that Wednesday the Regular issue of Part II will be the next one published. I had assumed that an Order such as this would be published promptly after it is made, and thus assumed it should be published in the next regularly issued Part II of the Gazette if not published sooner in an extra issue.
But hold the horses.
First, there is a general deadline of six-days, business days, for publication in the Gazette. We do not know what day the Governor in Council made the order fixing May 29, 2015 as the date certain provisions of the
SCCA came into force. If it was later than Tuesday last week, for example, it might not make it into this Wednesday's regular issue of Part II at all . . . putting it off at least potentially until June 17.
Moreover, the process for publishing official regulations and orders by the Governor in Council is not all that clear to me . . . the Privy Council Office must prepare the Order to be submitted but it appears it may also have to be approved by the Treasury Board. I am not familiar with timeline requirements for this relative to the valid implementation of the subject of such Orders. It appears possible this could delay publication of the Order further.
My sense, just a sense, is that the Order by the Governor in Council will address provisions other than section 8 in the SCCA, but this is far from certain.
I was hoping, and to a significant extent expecting, to see the Order within the next few days. I am less confident of this now, and indeed merely hopeful we see it soon, and particularly hopeful we see it at the latest by June 17th.
Overall, however, this process and how it has been implemented by this government, is further illustration of the extent to which this government (Harper's government) operates behind the curtains, with minimal transparency, and will proceed to implement even major changes in law with only the minimal amount of notice to the public.
