March 5th, 2014 : Chinese Investors Criticize Immigration Rules
LARRY WANG : WELL TREND UNITED : WEBSITE : CONTACT
“In the budget last week, the government
announced an immediate end to the immigrant investor program – under which
people with a net worth of $1.6-million lend the government $800,000
interest-free for five years in exchange for permanent residency – and cleared
out a backlog of tens of thousands of applicants, many of whom are from China.
The government said many of the people who use
the program have only “tenuous” ties to Canada, and even some Chinese-Canadians
in Vancouver – where many mainland and Hong Kong investors live – have the
impression that some of the investor immigrants buy houses and cars and bring
their families over, then return to China and Asia to do most of their
business.
In a press conference in Vancouver’s historic
Chinatown, several Chinese investors and community leaders called the move
unfair to those who had been waiting years, and demeaning to the 130,000 people
who have immigrated here using the program, many of whom, they said, manage
businesses in Canada.
Although immigrant investors can come to
Canada under other programs, the activists and business people who called the
press conference on Tuesday said the government made the change in a way that
was offensive to Chinese-Canadians and will hurt business ties with China.
The immigrant investors also complained that
the federal government has done very little to help them set up businesses
here, learn languages and otherwise integrate into Canadian society. At the
same time, they said, their economic contributions seem to be discredited.
Charlie Zhang, who came over on the program,
said he had persuaded many wealthy friends to apply. But now some plan to take
their money elsewhere, such as Australia.
“When we close our business, our factory, in
China and come here we have already lost a lot,” he told reporters at the
Floata Seafood and Chinese restaurant. “This is bad for investment… Uncertainty
is bad for investment.”
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris
Alexander, who was in Vancouver, said: “We will not waste taxpayers’ dollars on
programs that do not meet their objectives, are vulnerable to abuse, or do not
promote Canadian interests. We are exploring alternate options, including at
least one pilot program as announced in the budget. We can and will do better
than the IIP.”
Some saw political motives. “To me, it’s about
pleasing the Conservative base,” said Gabriel Yiu, a community activist who has
run provincially with the NDP and also runs three retail stores in Vancouver.
Other community leaders, including James Wang, a trustee for the Burnaby school
board, said the government’s contention that investor immigrants pay less tax
than other immigrants – was divisive. “It destroys the harmony of the
community,” he said.
James Liu, an investor immigrant who came to
Canada through a provincial investor program in Quebec, said he runs two
restaurants, employs roughly 40 people, and has a son here who is already
engaged in business. He said that if there are immigrant investors who are not
paying tax, then the government should crack down on them without ending the
entire program, and that the government should have, at the very least,
consulted with the community.
“Anything can be changed,” Mr. Liu said. “But
you should let the community know.”
“The program, founded in 1986, has been primarily used by Chinese
immigrants – from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. Key drivers included
upheaval after the crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the 1997 handover of
Hong Kong to Beijing, and the growth of the millionaire class in mainland
China.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will unveil his budget on Tuesday, a
final restraint package that favours minimal cost measures as the Conservatives
set the stage to balance Ottawa’s books in 2015, an election year in which they
hope to have surplus cash to dangle new tax cuts before voters.
It will also take aim at the gap between the sticker price of
consumer goods in Canada and the United States. It will legislate against
“country pricing” – a policy in which multinational companies charge higher
prices in Canada and cite reasons such as the vast geography.
The economic plan will also pour more money into skills training
for Canadians and free up cash for major infrastructure projects – job-creating
initiatives that will serve Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Tories well as they
prepare to fight another federal election in 2015.
Sources said the budget will also include money for Canada’s auto
sector to keep jobs in Canada – a measure that comes as Chrysler asks the
federal and Ontario governments for subsidies for a Windsor, Ont., minivan
plant.
“Our government launched an Automotive Innovation Fund in the past
to help support the automotive industry’s growth and to promote a sector that
creates jobs across the country. We will continue to invest in this important
sector,” a government source said.
The Conservatives, who undertook major immigration reforms to
attract skilled immigrants, and made no secret of their distaste for “Canadians
of convenience” who seek citizenship but live abroad, consider the investor program
a relic of a different era.
The program grants permanent residency to newcomers who make an
interest-free loan to a provincial or territorial government, money that is
supposed to be used for economic development.
Sources say the government believes the immigrant investor class
pays significantly less in taxes over the decades than other economic
immigrants, have less proficiency in English or French and are less likely
actually to reside in Canada.
A source said the government is acting based on data that show
that, 20 years after arriving in Canada, an immigrant investor has paid about
$200,000 less in taxes than a newcomer who came in under the federal skilled
worker program, and almost $100,000 less than one who was a live-in caregiver.
In the past 28 years, more than 130,000 people have come to Canada
under the investor program, including applicants and their families.
The Conservatives feel newer economic-immigrant programs are doing
a better job of attracting newcomers who will integrate well into Canadian
society and build the economic base.
These include the Canadian Experience Class, which fast-tracks
residency for temporary foreign workers already in Canada and non-Canadians who
have graduated from universities and colleges here.
In recent years, Canada has admitted about 3,000 immigrant
investors a year through the federal program – 11,000 when spouses and
dependents are included. Largely from China, Taiwan and South Korea, these
newcomers’ primary destinations are Ontario and British Columbia.
Federal and provincial immigration department data obtained by
Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland revealed this week that about
45,000 wealthy Chinese alone are on the immigrant investor program’s waiting
list and want to move to British Columbia.
Those on the waiting list after the federal investor immigrant
program is scrapped will have to apply through other programs.
Sources say that scrapping this category will allow in more
newcomers through other economic immigrant categories, including the new
Startup Visa program, which offers permanent residency to immigrant
entrepreneurs who can secure funding from Canadian investors.
When he was immigration minister, Jason Kenney complained in 2012
that the cash brought in by immigrant investors frequently sits idle on
provincial government balance sheets rather than stimulating the economy.
“Right now, all Canada gets from the investor immigrant program is
five years of use of about $750,000,” Mr. Kenney said in 2012. “That’s the
$800,000 contribution minus commissions and fees. … It basically means that
provincial governments that are getting that money are offsetting their debt
service costs.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the
handover of Hong Kong to China took place in 1999. This version has been
corrected.”
ARTICLE : GLOBE
& MAIL : FEB 18 2014 : Chinese Investment Community Upset About
Cancellation
“In the budget last week, the government
announced an immediate end to the immigrant investor program – under which
people with a net worth of $1.6-million lend the government $800,000
interest-free for five years in exchange for permanent residency – and cleared
out a backlog of tens of thousands of applicants, many of whom are from China.
The government said many of the people who use
the program have only “tenuous” ties to Canada, and even some Chinese-Canadians
in Vancouver – where many mainland and Hong Kong investors live – have the
impression that some of the investor immigrants buy houses and cars and bring
their families over, then return to China and Asia to do most of their
business.
In a press conference in Vancouver’s historic
Chinatown, several Chinese investors and community leaders called the move
unfair to those who had been waiting years, and demeaning to the 130,000 people
who have immigrated here using the program, many of whom, they said, manage
businesses in Canada.
Although immigrant investors can come to
Canada under other programs, the activists and business people who called the
press conference on Tuesday said the government made the change in a way that
was offensive to Chinese-Canadians and will hurt business ties with China.
The immigrant investors also complained that
the federal government has done very little to help them set up businesses
here, learn languages and otherwise integrate into Canadian society. At the
same time, they said, their economic contributions seem to be discredited.
Charlie Zhang, who came over on the program,
said he had persuaded many wealthy friends to apply. But now some plan to take
their money elsewhere, such as Australia.
“When we close our business, our factory, in
China and come here we have already lost a lot,” he told reporters at the
Floata Seafood and Chinese restaurant. “This is bad for investment… Uncertainty
is bad for investment.”
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris
Alexander, who was in Vancouver, said: “We will not waste taxpayers’ dollars on
programs that do not meet their objectives, are vulnerable to abuse, or do not
promote Canadian interests. We are exploring alternate options, including at
least one pilot program as announced in the budget. We can and will do better
than the IIP.”
Some saw political motives. “To me, it’s about
pleasing the Conservative base,” said Gabriel Yiu, a community activist who has
run provincially with the NDP and also runs three retail stores in Vancouver.
Other community leaders, including James Wang, a trustee for the Burnaby school
board, said the government’s contention that investor immigrants pay less tax
than other immigrants – was divisive. “It destroys the harmony of the
community,” he said.
James Liu, an investor immigrant who came to
Canada through a provincial investor program in Quebec, said he runs two
restaurants, employs roughly 40 people, and has a son here who is already
engaged in business. He said that if there are immigrant investors who are not
paying tax, then the government should crack down on them without ending the
entire program, and that the government should have, at the very least,
consulted with the community.
“Anything can be changed,” Mr. Liu said. “But
you should let the community know.” “
