Canada-India free trade gathering steam

By Samson Okalow  | August 31, 2011

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(Photo: Dieter Spannknebel/Getty)

When people think of countries that are tech powerhouses they think primarily of Japan and the U.S. But a free trade agreement currently under negotiation between Canada and India may help the latter get that much closer to joining the club—and expand Canada's economy by at least $6 billion.

It's called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and grew out of a 2010 Canada-India Joint Study recommending trade liberalization. (In addition to this, there are other, smaller agreements currently under negotiation, such as the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.)

At present, Canada's trade with India is a modest, though not insignificant $5.2 billion. But that trade has been growing quickly, with the merchandise portion (about 80% of total trade) up 73% since 2004. This reflects the reality of the developing world's strong growth in contrast to mature economies which are just muddling along. For comparison, Canada's GDP grew at 3.2% in 2010, while India saw 9%—and that's in the middle of a global economic slump. And until recently, direct investment from India was insignificant but exploded by 2,900% in 2008, almost in concert with the economic implosion in the west. India hasn't looked back since.

Tech and infrastructure businesses are going to benefit the most from liberalized trade, says Rana Sarkar, president and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council at BMO Capital Markets. He singles out clean tech in particular as being "huge." Core infrastructure, resources and services businesses should all do well because of India's need for the basic building blocks of economic development.

Tony Balasubramanian, partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers tech consulting practice, agrees: "Energy is a big issue in India as it is in all the BRIC countries. From an energy and base infrastructure perspective I think there's a great opportunity for Canadian companies in India." He adds that robotics is another industry that should see measurable gains as a result of any deal.

There have so far been five business roundtables—the last was in July—bringing together government and business leaders from both countries. One major participant has been SNC-Lavalin. In a statement, Ronald Denom, president of SNC-Lavalin International, said, "As far as the high-tech industry goes, some of the advantages that free trade with India would bring to Canadian companies include privileged access to a very large and rapidly growing market for their goods and services, additional sources of both financial and human capital, and greater exposure to 'frugal innovation,' which is an interesting characteristic of the Indian high-tech markets and extremely relevant for companies seeking to expand their worldwide sales in emerging markets.”

In the other direction, India's tech sector—characterized by IT and tech consulting firms like Tata and Infosys—could benefit immensely from liberalized trade between the two countries. 
 
However, Sarkar says the opportunity stretches beyond IT. "There's a number of industries where India has strengths—there's a number of engineering companies that are increasingly involved globally, and those are broadly service sector expertise. Indians have a strong interest in making sure that's part of the negotiations as well. But also broadly in terms of investment, Indian companies are fairly aggressive, looking globally, both as kind of a risk hedge on their side to their own domestic growth."

Perhaps already leading the way is Wipro (NYSE: WIT), which, at a market value of US$23B, is now the world's largest third-party engineering services firm. It opened a new office in Mississauga, Ont., in February 2011, characterizing the expansion as part of its "plans to intensify its focus on Canada, as one of the strategic geographies supporting Wipro’s growth."

Trade negotiations on the Canadian side are being headed up by Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway. The feds say an agreement is expected to be reached by 2013 after which it goes to Parliament. (Note that the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement signed in 1987 took effect a year later.)

Satish Thakkar, president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, which has been involved in the talks, says the chamber is satisfied with the pace of negotiations. He points to no major stumbling blocks, but cautions that "given the scope of CEPA, negotiations are likely to be protracted."

SNC-Lavalin's Denom says "we are still a long way from a free trade agreement with India."

However, in talking to these folks, the optimism is palpable, and with good reason. There's still a lot to be done in India and that means plenty of opportunity. Yet at the same time, India is more than just another sweatshop outpost—Indian companies are big players and they'll also be setting up shop in Canada and spending investment dollars. And that's quite a bit different from the free trade relationship between, say, Canada and Mexico.

Says Sarkar, "India is being built at the moment so all these things that we do really well in Canada, like soft infrastructure—rules and regulations when you're building a new town, how to set up associations, architectural engineering—all of those things are going to go through an enormous growth curve in India."

Source:   Canada Business

While 150,000-plus wait, few parents and grandparents are accepted

By Kristen Shane Published October 5, 2011

Opposition MPs are disturbed that Canada barely hit the low end of its target admission rate for grandparents and parents as permanent residents to Canada last year, while more than 150,000 lingered in line.

Two top bureaucrats from Citizenship and Immigration Canada took MPs on the immigration committee, who are mostly new to the committee, through a kind of Immigration 101 departmental briefing on Sept. 29.

They told MPs about the government's levels plan, a guide the immigration minister tables in Parliament each year on or before Nov. 1 that includes the number of foreign nationals projected to become permanent residents in the following year, and a range for each category of permanent resident.


Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, his party's immigration critic, noted that the department's 2010 immigration levels plan had a target admission rate of between 15,000 and 18,000 in the parents and grandparents category. Canada accepted 15,324 applicants.

Meanwhile, by the end of 2010, 150,965 applications were waiting to be processed in that category. That backlog ballooned to 165,000 as of March 2011.

The government has set the bar lower for this year. The 2011 admission range is 13,000 to 17,500.

The grandparents and parents category is not the only one where the government missed its high target in 2010. According to CIC statistics released in September, the admission rates fell below the upper ends of the ranges set in the levels plan for almost all non-economic classes of immigrants to Canada. That includes other family-class immigrants such as spouses and children, as well as refugees.

But the government exceeded its maximum targets in almost all economic immigrant categories. In 2010, Canada accepted 280,681 immigrants in total, the highest level since 1957, exceeding its 265,000 maximum target. The extra admissions all came from the economic side.

The government's emphasis on admitting economic immigrants is no secret.

"Everything I've tried to do over the past three-and-a-half years has been focused on making immigration work better for the Canadian economy and making the Canadian economy work better for immigrants. So that's really the number one focus," Mr. Kenney told Embassy late last month.

'And, of course, they're dying'

Looking past the numbers, the backlog in the grandparents and parents category, in human terms, is distressing to some MPs.

The CIC website estimates that it's taking staff currently 48 months to assess sponsors in Canada and up to another 55 months to assess the person being sponsored.

"These are the kind of numbers that I think all of us MPs see in our office all the time when people come in and say it's taking eight, nine, 10, 13 years to sponsor parents," said NDP immigration critic Don Davies, in the committee meeting. "And, of course, they're dying."

In responding to Mr. Lamoureux's question why Canada fell short of its high target for the grandparents and parents category, Les Linklater, assistant deputy minister for strategic and program policy, explained that applicants sometimes contribute to delays between the first and second steps of the process.

"Once our processing centre in Mississauga actually releases a sponsorship to our overseas network, it can take any number of months for [applicants] to actually respond to our request to fill out our application forms completely, provide supporting documentation, do their medicals," he told the committee.

Dawn Edlund, associate assistant deputy minister for operations, added that because CIC staff end up spending a lot of time chasing after applicants to get the documents they need to make decisions, the department has moved to stop "babysitting files." The department encourages applicants to give the completed application up front, and if they don't do that, they must start again.

CIC is also updating the way it processes immigration applications by using technology, and moving files from place to place rather than people. That's helping to streamline the process, said the officials.

They are working toward a service standard in the spouse or common-law partner category to process 80 per cent of applications within 12 months. But that service standard doesn't apply to the parents and grandparents category.

Mr. Kenney has acknowledged the backlog and said during the last election campaign that a Conservative government would admit more parents and grandparents in 2011 than the 15,324 admitted in 2010. He is also about to start stakeholder consultations about developing an action plan for faster family reunification.

"I'm not going to include or exclude any remedies," he said.

But he added that last year, nearly 40,000 people applied in the parents and grandparents program. "We cannot realistically admit 40,000 parents and grandparents. That would end up displacing economic immigrants. And I think it's hard to justify a huge increase in admissions for people who will be dependents."

He said all of the economic research he's seen indicates that older immigrants "constitute a net fiscal burden on Canadian society."

But others including NDP immigration committee member Jinny Sims, question that.

"I've got many families living in my riding where one of the partners would love to be able to go out to work," she said in an interview with Embassy. "And if they knew that the parents, the grandparents, were there to look after the children, they would have that security and they would gladly go out to work. And that would add to our economy. And happy families are more productive in their workplace."

Queen's University law faculty associate dean Sharryn Aiken said the assumption that family-class immigrants don't benefit Canada economically is flawed because it uses a short-term time horizon. In the long term, she said, "They are contributing to the success of that family's settlement and integration, for the family that's here already."

Plus, the system is already set up to ensure parents and grandparents are not an economic burden on Canadian society. Sponsors and applicants have to have enough money in their bank accounts to support applicants, she said. And the government has the legal tools to go after defaulting sponsors if need be.

She said the government should do fact-based research to help it determine the correct immigration levels and mix.

To clear up the backlog the government must devote appropriate resources to ensure it can process the applications in the queue in a timely way, she said.

"Clearly, without intake control at the front end we will continue to have these types of challenges where processing times grow," Mr. Linklater told MPs. "I think that's one of the key lessons that ministerial instructions have showed us in the skilled worker category, in that by restricting intake we have been able to work through the backlog that much more quickly."

In 2008, Mr. Kenney issued instructions to visa officers to prioritize the intake of skilled workers from a select list of high-demand jobs, or people with job offers or are already living in Canada.

One of the questions the department floated to participants in summer consultations on the right immigration mix and levels for Canada was whether the immigration minister should use his authority to instruct visa officers to limit intake in other categories, such as parents and grandparents.

When asked whether Mr. Kenney should use ministerial instructions to limit the intake of the grandparents and parents category, Conservative MP and immigration committee member Chungsen Leung said, "I think it warrants serious consideration."

Ms. Sims disagreed. "I would be very disturbed if in Canada we started to use those kind of policies," she said. "Because what are we saying then? We're doing to pick and choose which families can live together? We're going to pick and choose whose parents get to come to join them, or whose grandparents? Which child gets to enjoy their grandparents?"

She says the solution is to use the fees the government collects from applicants to get rid of the backlog, and then look at more long-term solutions. That means hiring more staff, she said.

For his part, Mr. Kenney said he wouldn't want to prejudge the outcome of his upcoming backlog consultations.

Meanwhile, the immigration committee started an eight-hearing study on system backlogs this week.

kshane@embassymag.ca

Total complete applications received since July 1, 2011

On July 1, 2011, the eligibility criteria for Federal Skilled Worker applicants changed.
Between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012, a maximum of 10,000 complete Federal Skilled Worker applications will be considered for processing. Within the 10,000 cap, a maximum of 500 Federal Skilled Worker applications per eligible occupation will be considered for processing within this same time frame.
These limits do not apply to applications with an offer of arranged employment (job offer).
Applications received toward the overall cap: 2,565 of 10,000 as of October 3, 2011

Applications received per eligible occupation:

Eligible Occupation (by National Occupational Classification [NOC] code)	Number of Complete Applications Received*
0631 Restaurant and Food Service Managers	229
0811 Primary Production Managers (except Agriculture)	23
1122 Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management	(Cap reached)**
1233 Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners	36
2121 Biologists and Related Scientists	135
2151 Architects	73
3111 Specialist Physicians	113
3112 General Practitioners and Family Physicians	111
3113 Dentists	146
3131 Pharmacists	260
3142 Physiotherapists	30
3152 Registered Nurses	(Cap reached)**
3215 Medical Radiation Technologists	14
3222 Dental Hygienists and Dental Therapists	10
3233 Licensed Practical Nurses	55
4151 Psychologists	11
4152 Social Workers	84
6241 Chefs	22
6242 Cooks	50
7215 Contractors and Supervisors, Carpentry Trades	25
7216 Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades	47
7241 Electricians (except Industrial and Power System)	23
7242 Industrial Electricians	20
7251 Plumbers	4
7265 Welders and Related Machine Operators	9
7312 Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics	9
7371 Crane Operators	1
7372 Drillers and Blasters – Surface Mining, Quarrying and Construction	2
8222 Supervisors, Oil and Gas Drilling and Service	23

*The number of complete Federal Skilled Worker applications received as of October 3, 2011 is approximate.
**Once the cap has been reached, we can only accept applications for this occupation from people with an existing offer of arranged employment.
NOTE: Because application intake fluctuates, these figures are meant as a guide only. There is no guarantee that an application sent in now will fall within the cap.

Ethnic diversity and immigration

According to demographic projections, the ethnocultural diversity of Canada’s population will increase greatly by 2031. The vast majority (96%) of Canadians belonging to a visible minority group will likely live in one of the 33 census metropolitan areas, and visible minority groups could comprise 63% of the population of Toronto, 59% of Vancouver and 31% of Montréal.

Canada’s increasing visible minority population is not the only aspect of diversity projected to change. Other aspects of diversity include foreign-born, generation status, mother tongue and religious denomination.

Diversity growing

According to demographic projections, the proportion of foreign-born people in the population could increase from 20% in 2006 to between 25% and 28% by 2031. Just over half (55%) could be born in Asia.

The proportion of foreign-born in the population could increase together with immigration levels. From 1991 to 2006, the average annual number of immigrants to Canada was 229,000, making the years 1991 to 2006 one of the longest uninterrupted periods of strong immigration since 1871. Over the same period, the proportion of foreign-born in the population increased from 16.1% to 19.8%. In contrast, over a 40-year period from 1951 to 1991, the proportion of foreign-born in the population rose from 14.7% to 16.1%.

From 2006 to 2031, the foreign-born population of Canada could increase four times faster than the rest of the population. The number of foreign-born Canadians could total between 9.8 and 12.5 million, depending on immigration levels. By 2031, nearly half (46%) of Canadians aged 15 and older could be foreign-born, or could have at least one foreign-born parent, up from 39% in 2006.

Diversity will grow among the Canadian-born population in coming generations regardless of future immigration, since the children and grandchildren of immigrants will add to Canada’s diversity.

Doubling of visible minority population

By 2031, if current demographic trends continue, 47% of the second generation (the Canadian-born children of immigrants) will belong to a visible minority group, nearly double the proportion of 24% in 2006. The proportion of the third generation (the Canadian-born children of the Canadian-born children of immigrants) or later generations belonging to a visible minority group, although low, will triple from 1% to 3%.

By 2031, 29% to 32% of Canada’s population—between 11.4 and 14.4 million people—could belong to a visible minority group, which is nearly double the proportion (16%) and more than double the number (5.3 million) reported in 2006. In contrast, the rest of the population is projected to increase by up to 12%. Sustained immigration, slightly higher fertility and a young population will bolster the visible minority population’s growth.

South Asians—the largest visible minority group—could represent 28% of the visible minority population by 2031, up from 25% in 2006, whereas the share of Chinese could decline from 24% to 21%. Chinese women have one of the lowest fertility rates in Canada, unlike South Asian women. Also, people born in China are more likely than South Asians to emigrate from Canada.

Canada’s Black and Filipino populations, which were the third- and fourth-largest visible minority groups in 2006, could double in size by 2031. The Arab and West Asian groups could more than triple—the fastest population growth among all groups.

More allophones, increasing religious diversity

Allophones (people whose mother tongue is neither English nor French) accounted for less than 10% of Canada’s population in 1981. By 2006, that proportion had risen to 20%; augmented by immigration, it could reach 29% to 32% by 2031. In other words, the number of allophones could rise 7 to 11 times faster than the rest of the population, to total between 11.4 and 14.3 million people.

Diversity is also increasing in terms of religious denomination. The number of people having a non-Christian religion is expected to almost double from 8% of the population in 2006 to 14% by 2031; about half of the non-Christian population would be Muslim, up from 35% in 2006. The proportion of the population with a Christian religion could decline from 75% to about 65%. The share with no religion could rise from 17% to 21%.

BMO Canadian Housing Outlook: Tailwinds and Headwinds Point To Soft Landing

Tailwinds include low mortgage rates, relatively low unemployment and strong immigration, while high prices, elevated household debt and slowing employment are cause for concern. - More buyers are turning to variable rate mortgages on expectations that rates could stay low for some time, or even decline. - Average Canadian house prices were a record two-thirds more than average U.S. house prices.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Sep 30, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- After a decade of strong growth in the Canadian housing market, residential real estate is headed for a "soft landing" with prices moderating in the months ahead, according to a Special Report from BMO Economics.

Low interest rates have fuelled Canada's housing market in the past decade, pushing prices to new highs in most regions. Sales are now close to their past-decade norm, and well below pre- and post-recession peaks, while residential mortgage demand has also moderated. However, a weaker economy and new mortgage rules have dimmed activity recently.

"Since the prudent and timely mortgage rule changes announced early this year by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Canadian house prices have moderated," said Sal Guatieri, Senior Economist and Vice President, BMO Capital Markets. "House price gains are slowing. Although average resale prices rose a brisk 7.7 per cent year-over-year in August, the rate of increase has slowed from nearly 9 per cent earlier this year."

Mr. Guatieri noted in the report that housing activity should remain moderate in the year ahead, with tailwinds including low mortgage rates, relatively low unemployment and strong immigration. Furthermore, a weak global economy and Europe's debt crisis will likely keep the Bank of Canada on the sidelines until early 2013, while further easing measures by the Federal Reserve should suppress long-term rates in both countries, thereby supporting affordability.

On the flip side, Mr Guatieri noted that the housing market also faces several challenges, including high prices, elevated household debt and slowing employment.

"Prices have risen twice as fast as incomes in the past decade, lifting the current ratio 16 per cent above its norm. Although the current overvaluation is below levels that triggered price corrections in Canada in 1989 and the U.S. in 2006, it will remain a thorn in the side of first-time buyers," said Mr. Guatieri. He added that for bargain hunters, Canadian houses, on average, cost a record two-thirds more in local currency terms than properties in the U.S.

The upshot is that home sales are likely to remain steady in 2012 and prices should also stay put. However, the resource-rich provinces, notably Alberta and Saskatchewan, should outperform other regions since their economies are expected to grow the fastest. Because housing is moderately overpriced in most regions (and considerably so in Vancouver), it's vulnerable to a correction.

"Regardless of the current low interest rates, it is still important for homeowners or potential buyers to be prudent and stress-test their mortgage against a higher interest rate to ensure they can afford what they signed up for. Total housing expenses should not consume more than one-third of total household income," said Katie Archdekin, Head of Mortgage Products, BMO Bank of Montreal.

Ms. Archdekin added that Canadians need to be continually examining ways to reduce overall housing costs. "BMO has developed products, such as the low rate mortgage with a maximum 25-year amortization, that we believe are directly relevant to today's environment and specifically designed to help Canadian consumers manage their debt. Furthermore, the lower amortization can significantly reduce the amount of interest paid over the life of the mortgage."

Additional factors expected to affect the future of Canada's housing market:

        
        --  The biggest threat stems from the perceived one-in-three chance of a
            recession, and the attendant loss of jobs.
        --  Another risk, though far smaller, is if interest rates spike higher next
            year. Even a moderate 2 percentage point increase in rates would
            severely impact affordability. Low rates are a threat too, since they
            could cause the market to heat up again, only to correct when rates
            eventually rise.
        --  Mortgage growth is expected to moderate as Canadians turn more cautious
            in managing their debt. Despite slower personal credit growth, household
            debt hit a record 1 1/2 times disposable income in Q2, as residential
            mortgages continued to outrun income.
        --  Meanwhile, job and income growth should moderate next year, as the
            economy is expected to grow just 1.8 per cent versus about 2.2 per cent
            this year.
        --  More buyers are turning to variable rate mortgages on expectations that
            rates could stay low for some time, or even decline.
        
        

        
        Contacts:
        Matt Duffin, Toronto
        (416) 867-3996
        matthew.duffin@bmo.com
        
        Sarah Bensadoun, Montreal
        (514) 877-8224
        sarah.bensadoun@bmo.com
        
        Laurie Grant, Vancouver
        (604) 665-7596
        laurie.grant@bmo.com
 
www.bmo.com            

Ottawa takes aim at immigrant waiting lists a million names long

HEATHER SCOFFIELD

The Canadian Press

Published Friday, Sep. 30, 2011 5:59PM EDT

Last updated Friday, Sep. 30, 2011 6:10PM EDT

The lineup of people wanting to immigrate to Canada has grown steadily under the Conservatives' watch, despite government attempts to make the system more efficient.

Officials from the Immigration Department confirm that the waiting list to process immigration applications is now more than a million names long.

The long list means many years of uncertainty for some families here and abroad, and a tarnished reputation for Canada in the global competition for skilled workers.

“Huge problem,” tweeted Immigration Minister Jason Kenney this week.

He has spoken frequently about the need to streamline the immigration system, but the matter has now risen toward the top of his political agenda.

The House of Commons immigration committee has just agreed to hold eight hearings on the matter, beginning next week.

And Mr. Kenney has made curtailing the backlog a priority as he undertakes a major review of the level and mix of immigrants allowed into Canada.

He is in the final stages of that review, although his final assessment is not expected soon.

However, Ottawa has cut back on the overall number of immigrants allowed into Canada this year, critics point out.

Clamping down on the number of acceptances is just lengthening the waiting list, and also taking the federal government further away from its goal of fuelling the Canadian workforce with immigrant labour, says NDP immigration critic Don Davies.

He points out that Mr. Kenney has said any growth in Canada's labour force will need to be completely supplied by immigration within five years.

“How are we going to meet that economic reality? I don't think they're responding to their own projections,” Mr. Davies said in an interview.

Mr. Kenney's officials say immigration is as high in Canada now as it ever was, and 2010 was a sudden spike that skewed the numbers. Still, the minister has also indicated that a huge increase in immigration is not in the cards any time soon.

“While Canada continues to welcome historically high numbers of new immigrants, and maintains the most open and generous immigration system in the world, we have to carefully manage the large number of people who want to be Canadian,” Mr. Kenney's spokeswoman, Candice Malcolm, said in an email.

That leaves finding ways to curtail applications as the only solution to getting rid of the backlog.

Indeed, Immigration Canada has taken steps in the past few years to control the waiting list.

Since 2008, the minister has had the power to limit applications in certain categories. Mr. Kenney has exercised that power for foreign skilled workers and, most recently, the investor program. Canada is not accepting any more applications in the investor program until next summer.

As a result, and also because immigration officials are being pushed to process applications faster, the rate of increase in the backlog has diminished over the years, officials say.

Plus, the wait for some categories of workers — people who have a job lined up, or professionals badly needed in Canada — are usually approved within months.

But others — especially parents and grandparents of permanent residents, and immigrants who applied before the systemic change in 2008 — can spend up to eight years before they receive word about whether they are accepted or rejected.

Now, the challenge is to prevent the list from continuing to grow.

Mr. Davies says that if increasing immigration is not an option, there are two other ways to go about it: boosting government resources to handle the paperwork, or placing stricter limits on accepting applications.

But he says the government won't entertain an increase in resources.

“They're not doing that, leaving only one policy option, which is to shut the door on the number of applications that can be made,” he said. “I think they already have a pre-ordained answer. ... They're going to limit the numbers of applications for the first time in history.”

Hungary still tops for refugee claims in Canada

BY DANIEL PROUSSALIDIS ,PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU

FIRST POSTED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2011 03:24 PM EDT | UPDATED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 01, 2011 03:27 PM EDT

OTTAWA - As Canada receives thousands of dubious refugee claims from Hungarian citizens, there's a call for drastic action.

"How much of our money do we want to hemorrhage before setting a visa requirement on Hungarian nationals, just like we did with the Czech Republic?" asked immigration lawyer Richard Kurland.

Between January and August of this year 2,045 people claiming to be refugees came to Canada from Hungary That's 13% of all refugee claims made during that time in Canada, keeping

Hungary as this country's top source of refugee claims.

QMI Agency has acquired a 2010 Canada Border Services Agency report that concluded most of the claimants from Hungary are Roma – a stateless ethnic group that considers the name 'Gypsy' derogatory.

Once those claimants arrive, they're set up to receive medical, dental and eye care at no charge, social assistance benefits, and financial help for housing and furniture while their case is sorted out.

But, claims from Hungary are almost never approved and most cases are usually abandoned or withdrawn during the 12 to 18 months it takes to process them.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney spoke out about the problem in the House of Commons in April 2010.

"The allegations are that many of these people were coached to come to Canada, make a false asylum claim and then register for provincial welfare benefits which subsequently flowed to a criminal organization. The asylum system was being abused as a tool to access welfare." said Kenney.  Over the last several years, the Mounties have investigated allegations people have

been trafficked from Hungary to Hamilton, Ont., coached into filing refugee claims and collecting social assistance, enslaved in construction work, and locked in basements while organized crime syndicates took every penny from them.

The Conservatives passed reforms to the refugee system last year to get claims

processed in just two or three months -- not long enough for most claimants to

get approval for provincial welfare benefits.

Budget considerations and the process for approving new regulations have bogged down those reforms, so changes aren't expected until late June 2012.

Federal officials say a new visa requirement for Hungarian nationals is not under consideration.