We just finished up meetings this morning in Fredericton, NB. The first was in MP Keith Ashfield's regional office and it was a round table on the Temporary Foreign Worker issue and its impacts in New Brunswick. We had a great group of round table participants.  Thanks to both Keith and MP Mike Allan for putting the group together!

The next meeting was a Multicultural round table with associations in Fredericton including the Japanese, Latino, African, Chinese, Filipino, Indo, Iranian and the Fredericton Multicultural Association.

We had a good discussion regarding the coming into law of C-11 our new refugee reform legislation, foreign credential recognition time frames, the changes we are proposing regarding crooked immigration consultants, and family reunification.

There were some powerful recommendations from the group and they appreciated the update on what we have been doing as a government in their areas of concern.

Now off to Moncton. Hoping to get a bit of time to watch the Netherlands play and beat Uruguay in the World Cup semi-final in South Africa. Multiculturalism of a sporting sort!!!!
 
Late

r,

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The picture attached is the beginning of the Trans Canada Highway in North Sydney, Nova Scotia.  I had the opportunity to tour the Case Processing Centre in downtown Sydney (You know the place you send all tax dollars and forms too...). Yes, Canada Revenue Agency is there but my visit was in regard to the work they do on the Citizenship and Immigration side of things.

Rose Anne Poirier is the Manager of Program Support and she had us set up for the tour. There are three divisions there: 1. Federal Skilled Worker Centralized Intake Office; 2. Permanent Resident Card Centre; and 3. Citizenship Operations.

I had a complete tour of the facility and it's operations. The folks in Sydney take real pride in the work they do for the federal government and for taxpayers. One challenge they face is when the temporary workers are brought and they have to deal with backlogs. There were complaints in the spring that the temporary employees they hired to help were not kept on permanently. It is too bad but trying to politicize this is not fair the to the people who work there, either temporary or permanent. It's my hope that this will end and we can work together to continue the services they provide to permanent residents and all new Canadians.

I then headed over to the Marine Atlantic Terminal in North Sydney. Minister Rob Merrifield was on hand to announce to federal tax payers that we are investing in a new terminal, a retrofit of existing ferries, the purchase of new ferries and the rework of the facility which will open up the town to all passengers who use the ferry to travel to and from Newfoundland.

The picture shows where the Transnational Highway begins in Nova Scotia. This is a beautiful province!

I even had a chance to meet with Conservative MLA Cecil Clark, great guy!

I also spoke with Liberal MP Mark Eyking. He's also of Dutch Heritage and he extended an invite to his place for dinner. It's a Dutch tradition!  Unfortunately the next stop is in Fredericton, New Brunswick so I had to leave right after the announcement.

Later,

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