Feds Should Reboot Cash-For-Residence Immigration Program

The following appears as an Op-Ed in the Parliament Hill Times – May 11, 2016 

The federal government has taken fire for Quebec's Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP) which offers residency to wealthy immigrants, mostly from China. Critics accuse Ottawa of disregarding that the vast majority of these individuals settle in British Columbia and Ontario, and deprive these provinces of federal immigrant settlement transfer payments which Quebec is unfairly receiving.

The critics would be better advised to appeal to the federal government to reclaim its role as a dominant player in the residence through investment industry as it has the policy basis and the market demand to do so.

Until 2014, the federal government gave entry-level millionaires a pathway to residency and ultimately, citizenship in Canada through its Canada Immigrant Investor Program (CIIP). The scheme operated largely on the interest income earned from investors' funds. The program benefits to Canada