A dream come true.
Well, first off, I'd cap parent intake at 20,000 units a year to stave off a trend of increasing backlog while retaining our traditional compassionate humanitarian level for parents and grandparents.
Second, within the parent and grandparent inventory, I'd hive off for priority immediate processing elderly single parents overseas. Get them in, get them safe.
Third, I'd introduce two priority processing streams. Give them the opportunity to pay the $75K for priority processing within the backlog. When that cap is filled, say 3,000 places, there's another category $75K, and they come forward on a multiple entry TRV, visitor status ten years. Right away, you'll have clipped that backlog by 40% in the first 18 to 24 months of operation. The third priority class--a value judgment on my part--would be parents and grandparents with accompanying dependants.
Next, finance the whole thing by curing the investor backlog, by creating 500 cases a year within the investor backlog, where people pony up an additional $400,000 to bring it to the 2011 investment level of $800,000, and that's a wire transfer to the Government of Canada, no risk to us, no risk to the taxpayer. That alone will deflate the investor backlog.
The last thing I'd do if I were minister to cure this investor backlog, which is rather puffy—it's not as big as people think—is make it a requirement within the first six months to choose a facilitator for your immigrant investor fund and to open a bank account in Canada. Many will not be able to do it because opening a bank account in Canada triggers a Canadian bank's obligations on due diligence and know your client, including some of the source of funds, and you hive off to the private sector the task of separating the good from the bad in terms of source of funds, at no cost to the taxpayer. You'll see that investor backlog deflate real quick.