Family reunification could lead to "crisis," says immigration lawyer

This year, Canada plans to accept 10,000 parent and grandparent sponsorship applications.

Immigration Minister John McCallum says the Liberal government will stick to its campaign promise of doubling the annual number of immigrant parents and grandparents accepted into the country.

To Toronto immigration lawyer Sergio Karas, the Liberal policy goes in the wrong direction. To Karas, the benefits of parent and grandparent sponsorship are mostly political, while the drawbacks are economic. Since people use the Canadian healthcare system more as they age, Karas believes it's problematic to increase the number of older immigrants, when we could be bringing in more young or working-age immigrants. 

The question we have to ask ourselves as a nation is what type of immigrants do we need? Do we need immigrants who will come to work..? Who will contribute to the system...? Do we need younger immigrants..? And the answer to those questions is invariably yes, yes, yes.- Sergio Karas, Toronto immigration lawyer

To Karas, a program to sponsor parents and grandparents made far more sense before the proliferation of internet communication and accessible air travel. He believes that because its easier to stay in touch with family back home, there's less of a reason to bring them to Canada.

We are operating with the mindset of the 1950s and '60s, when international  travel was very expensive. When people who left their country of origin said goodbye forever... we are no longer in that world.- Source

In this interview, Karas speaks with guest host Michelle Eliot. Click the play button above to listen.