A customer called Rana Dhatt’s computer business to ask if he had work of some sort, repairing computers perhaps, for an electrical engineer from China with two degrees.

The customer told Dhatt, who doubles as president of the Burnaby Multicultural Society (BMS), he just wants to get his foot in the door instead of working at Oasis Car Wash on Kingsway.

Dhatt sees examples of the immigrant credentials crisis all the time. A doctor from Eastern Europe works in a janitorial business while other physicians drive taxis. Another man Dhatt knows was a university engineering lecturer in his home country. Here he’s installing windows.

“He’s devastated,” says Dhatt of the lecturer. “He may not be able to get the exact same job, but at least there should be something a level or two below that where he could be working, but certainly not pounding the windows into the frames.”

uuuuu

Immigration is an issue that will be front and centre for many voters in the Burnaby-New Westminster riding in the federal election Oct. 14. Statistics Canada reported in the 2006 census that 54.4 per cent of the riding’s population is a visible minority. That stat doesn’t even take into account the invisible minority of European immigrants during the last decade or two.

The credentials that get them into Canada often aren’t accepted over here. All they get when they arrive is a few brochures at the airport, says Dhatt.

“Frankly, it’s hypocrisy. Either they shouldn’t be allowed to come here using those credentials or if they are they should actually have some handholding, or speed up the examinations so they can be put into their particular field,” Dhatt says.

“A number of people have gone through hardship coming to a country, knowing they’re going to get a job in their field, only to find out they’re going to be pushing a broom or bagging groceries.”

Over the years, many of the immigrants have become Canadians, making them eligible to vote. Dhatt said many experience difficulty being able to bring a spouse or parent over to live here. A big issue is obtaining a visitor visa for a relative to come because of a family illness or funeral. Those are events that can’t be foreseen, he said.

“That’s a huge problem for all the former immigrants no matter what country it is,” said Dhatt.

uuuuu

Incumbent MP Peter Julian of the New Democratic Party was at a gathering in Toronto where the locals proudly announced more than 60 languages were spoken in the area. A few minutes later, Julian got up and said, that’s nice, but Burnaby-New Westminster has more than 100.

“It’s a phenomenally diverse part of the world. We say the most diverse part of Canada, but as far as we’re aware it’s the most diverse part of the planet in such a concentrated space,” says Julian, who was raised in New West and still lives there. “Thousands of people in this area become Canadian citizens every year.”

Julian says there’s been a “whole meltdown in our immigration system.”

He says the old joke about someone needing medical attention should call a taxi to get to the hospital because the driver is likely to be a doctor isn’t far from the truth.

“We have hundreds of people who are trained and able to deal with that shortage of physicians. And yet over the last 20 years there’s been nothing done either by the former Liberal government or this Conservative government to address this issue of credentials,” Julian says.

He adds, MPs are saddled with the workload of finding ways for constituents to bring in relatives, something the ministry should be doing. Julian also feels both the federal and provincial governments need to provide more English-language training so immigrants can function better in Canada.

•••••

Historically, the Liberals have benefitted the most from the immigrant vote. The connection between who opened the door for them has been strong. But Gerry Lenoski, the Liberal candidate in Burnaby-New Westminster, admits some of the decisions made by his party have put the immigration system in it’s present predicament.

“I’m not going to dodge the fact we have been in power and our on-the-ground administration and management of it hadn’t been perfect and some of the problems we have to today have their origins back some years,” says Lenoski, who wants to get elected so he can go to Ottawa to bang the drum for change.

“It’s indisputable the immigration system is pretty broken. There’s a backlog that’s growing every day.”

Green Party candidate Carrie-Ann McLaren says in addition to its environmental focus the Greens want to promote diversity and help other parts of the world.

“At home we want to make sure people are actually treated equally, whether they’re born here or not. I know I’d like to see more emphasis, when they get here, on helping them learn the ins and outs,” says McLaren.

“To me it’s just mind-boggling. It’s just a big morass of red tape ... and then they get stuck doing manual labour.”

Conservative candidate Sam Rakhra did not respond to requests for an interview on the immigration issue.

Rakhra and McLaren share one concern, that being crime. In an e-mail, Rakhra said the Conservatives want to prevent serious crimes by getting rid of conditional sentencing, commonly known as house arrest.

McLaren says crime is a big issue in the riding because of all the homelessness and property crime.

“It affects everybody. They care about that more than something like NAFTA,” says McLaren. “There’s no cookie-cutter way of dealing with it and you have to get all the groups together to figure out how to do it. Just throwing them all in jail isn’t going to work.”

•••••

Lenoski says transportation is important because the lack of proper truck routes has produced gridlock and paralysis that Canadians have to deal with every day.

Julian also says his riding, with three mill closures, has paid the price for the Conservatives selling out the softwood lumber industry to the United States. The NDP, he says, promises to ban the export of raw logs to preserve jobs and put in a fund to reopen mills before it’s too late.

“It’s really a race against time,” says Julian.

Simon Fraser University political science professor Patrick Smith says the riding’s population spurt, much of that growth in the form of immigrants, will be a factor.

“You’re getting an increased pace of growth and now you’re getting a very different mix. It seems to me both of those can play out rather interestingly (in the riding),” says Smith.

New developments in New Westminster, HighGate Village and Metrotown, he says, might affect the financial demographics of the riding. Historically, though, Burnaby electoral districts are always close races, says Smith—but most of the time the outcome favours the NDP.

Smith added that Julian will have an advantage Oct. 14 since he is an incumbent, especially since his opponents don’t have much name recognition in the community.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com

THE CANDIDATES

Peter Julian, NDP

Website: www.peterjulian.ca

Campaign headquarters: 718 12th St. New Westminster

Phone: 778-397-0677

• Represented Burnaby-New Westminster since 2004

• NDP critic for international trade, gateways and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

• Born and raised in New Westminster

• Graduated with political science degree from University of Quebec in Montreal

• Worked as a financial administrator for various organizations

Gerry Lenoski, Liberals

Website: www.votegerry.ca

Campaign headquarters: 5201 Rumble, Burnaby

Phone: 604-438-6733

• Born in New Westminster and raised in South Burnaby

• Since 1980 has been a director, officer and counsel to both public and private companies involved in the resource, aerospace, energy and high-teach sectors

• Political science degree from UBC, MA in public administration from Carleton University in Ottawa, and a masters in philosophy from Essex University in the U.K.

• Spent seven years on Parliament Hill assisting Liberal government ministers

Carrie-Ann McLaren, Green Party

Website: www.greenparty.ca/en/campaign/59003

Campaign headquarters: None

Phone: 604-626-6086

• Works in accounting office of a large Burnaby manufacturing company

• Attended Carleton University; television broadcast diploma BCIT

• B.C. resident for 15 years

• Resident of the Metrotown area

Sam Rakhra, Conservatives

Website: www.samrakhra.ca

Campaign headquarters: 5696 Imperial St., Burnaby

Phone: 604-439-8811

• President and founder of Royal Group Tapestry Realty, based in Surrey

• Founding director Burnaby-New Westminster Conservative executive board

• Roots in New Westminster and Burnaby stem back to 1952 when his parents immigrated to the area

Other candidates

• Joseph Theriault, Marxist-Leninist Party

• Ismet Yetisen, Libertarian Party

Facts and figures

(2006 Statistics Canada census)

Riding population – 117,665

Eligible voters – 79,092 (preliminary voters list)

Median age: 38.9 (B.C. 41.5, Canada 40.4)

Median income (all families): $55,294 (B.C. 62,346, Canada 63,866)

Visible minority population total – 64,075 (54.4 %—in the 2001 census visible minorities made up 49.3% of the riding)

Chinese – 29,430 (25% of total population)

South Asian – 12,285 (10.4%)

Filipino – 6,970 (5.9%)

Korean – 4,205 (3.6%)

Black – 2,335 (2%)

West Asian – 1,905 (1.6%)

Latin American – 1,780 (1.5%)

Japanese – 1,315 (1.1%)

Arab – 575 (.5%)

Size – 43 square kilometres

Boundaries – West of Eighth Street in New Westminster; from Eighth Street, 10th Avenue to the Trans-Canada Highway to Sperling, north up to Oakland Street/Dover/Grange, joining Kingsway at Sussex; Boundary Road is the west boundary and the Fraser River the south.

2006 results

Peter Julian, NDP – 17,391 (38.79%)

Mary Pynenburg, Liberals – 13,420 (29.93)

Marc Dalton, Conservatives – 12,364 (27.58)

Scott Janzen, Green Party – 1,654 (3.68%)

2004 results

Peter Julian, NDP – 14,061 (34.58)

Mary Pynenburg, Liberals – 13,732 (32.52%)

Mike Redmond, Conservatives – 11,821 (27.63%)

Revel Kunz, Green Party – 1,606 (3.72%)