Proposed amendments in Canada’s immigration laws: Bill C-50 receives third and final reading in the House

The Canadian House of Commons has finally approved controversial immigration reforms in Canada’s immigrations laws by a vote of 120:90.

The proposed legislative amendments, which were embedded in 2008 Budget Implementation Bill or Bill C-50, received its third and final reading in the House of Commons on Monday night and finally approved by 120 to 90 votes.

Now to become the part of immigration laws, these amendments need Senate approval and royal assent that is expected within two weeks.

As described earlier, the amendments will give the immigration minister greater selection powers to limit the number of new immigration applicants. It will also allow the government to fast-track applications from the types of immigrants it wants, such as skilled workers, and freeze applications from others.

Because Bill C-50 was a confidence matter and, had the government lost the vote, Prime Minister Stephen Harper would have been obliged to ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a general election.

Two mainstream opposition parties NDP and Bloc Québécois wanted to force an election on the issue, so voted against the bill but the Liberals does not find itself election ready, so they abstained. Nearly 80 Liberal MPs were absent from the House during the vote, enabling the minority Conservative government to get the bill approved easily.