Well, thank you.
I've always thought that a big country like the U.S. has obvious advantages over Canada in terms of size and power. One way in which Canada, a smaller country, can offset this is through more nimble, flexible policies, but I think we have done the opposite in immigration.
Let me just quote the Mexican ambassador to Canada who said a couple of months ago, “Canada has the most stringent visa system for Mexicans of any country in the world.” He went on to talk about what he called ridiculously long questionnaires for business travellers about where their mother was born and things of that nature. I know the U.S. has interviews and we don't, but we've compared waiting times for Americans and Canadians and typically, the American waiting times are significantly shorter.
I think we're shooting ourselves in the foot, not only in terms of family members wanting to go to funerals and weddings, but also for business reasons, tourism reasons, and Canadian jobs.
My question, perhaps to Richard Kurland, is, while I like the suggestions a number of you have made, isn't the problem more fundamental, attitudinal, structural? Don't we need something to change the mindset of these people who would require such ridiculous forms for a business person wanting to come from Mexico to Canada?