the CanadaVisa Team - 24 July, 2015
With next week's federal election quickly approaching, candidates are out campaigning in immigrant communities across the country, and encouragingnewcomers to exercise their right to vote.
A recent poll conducted by the Canadian Immigrant Magazine, found that 74 per cent of immigrants who are eligible to vote for the first time feel thatthey do not have enough information about the electoral process. Nearly have of this group did not realize that they are entitled the three hours ofpaid leave to out to vote.
Though the Canadian government has issued election information materials in nearly 30 languages, the results of the poll suggest that candidates shouldreach out to newcomers more effectively to explain the election process and encourage them to participate.
Given that 70 per cent of Canadian population growth over the past five years is attributed to these newcomers, they have an important voice.
Justin Trudeau, Liberal candidate in Montreal’s Papineau riding and son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, stated that immigration is a source ofCanada’s prosperity and that more must be done to preserve that. He learned the value of diversity from his father, who is considered the “Father of Multiculturalism in Canada”.
“He said the reason Canada is so good is not in spite of diversity, but because of its diversity,” Justin Trudeau said of his father.
In the Mississauga-Brampton South riding, where about 60 per cent of residents are visible minorities, all four major party candidates are immigrantsor children of immigrants. Immigration and family reunification are hot political issues here.
Liberal candidate Navdeep Bains, who lists Pierre Trudeau as his political hero, has been representing the riding since 2004. The Conservativecandidate, Salma Ataullahjan, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan 29 years ago, says that “we need more women and more immigrants to get involved inpolitics.”
The Canadian Immigrant Magazine poll showed that the economy and health care were the main concerns among immigrants, followed by skills recognition,law and order, and family reunification.
