Response to Public Speech
During my study trip to Ottawa, Canada, my classmates and I had an opportunity to have a meeting with one of Canada’s most prominent and committed politicians. A man with a progressive and high-grade life philosophy, a thorough hard worker, an experienced politician, and just an enthralling person, Jason Kenney is definitely one of the most interesting people on the Parliament Hill to have a meeting with. Despite the fact that Mr. Kenney has a very tight schedule and has to combine several full-time positions at the time, he managed to devote an hour of his time to our group and share his political experience and some insights on Canadian Immigration Policy.
According to his personal profile, Jason Kenney started his political career in 1988 from being an Executive Assistant to Ralph Goodale, a leader of Saskatchewan Liberal Party. Notably, he had to drop out from the university before completing his undergraduate degree to begin work in Saskatchewan provincial politics. Nonetheless, this decision seems to be paying off, as for the past 20 years Kenney has built a solid career of credible and successful politician. In 2008 he has become Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism from the Conservative government. In addition, he has been a Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Operations, and Regional Minister for Southern Alberta since 2011. That is why, unsurprisingly, he has a 20-hour working day. The list of Mr. Kenney’s awards and honors is indeed remarkable. Kenney has been named one of Canada's "100 Leaders of the Future" by Maclean's magazine; "one of Canada's leading conservative activists" by the Globe and Mail; and "one of 21 Canadians to watch in the 21st century" by the Financial Post magazine. Moreover, Mr. Kenney’s co-workers named him “best overall” and “hardest working” MP on the Parliament Hill, according to Maclean’s Magazine.
Our meeting took place in one of the spacious rooms of the Centre Block at the Parliament Hill. Our group consisted of 40 people, and the whole meeting was conducted in the semi-formal atmosphere. We were offered coffee and tea, and afterwards the discussion began. During the discussion we managed to cover different topics from Mr. Kenney’s political experience, as well as his economic views on issues of culture and immigration in Canada.
Minister discussed Canada’s immigration policy and its consequences on the Canadian culture and citizens. He claimed that Canada aims to attract foreign people with high rate of human capital, who could more easily integrate into the Canadian environment. The main criteria which are taken into consideration, while issuing work/residence permit are level of English proficiency, education, and the amount of professional experience. Mr. Kenney also compared Canadian immigration policy to the European one, and mentioned the reasons why he believed that Canada had managed this issue more efficiently. Mr. Kenney also emphasized that Canada tries to keep up with the globalization processes in the world, and tries to attract more and more international students every year. Canada grants 70 000 study permits annually, and 20 000 of these students remain working in Canada after graduation. Finally, Minister mentioned upcoming immigration reforms in Canada and their positive consequences on Canadian economy and society.
Overall, Kenny’s speech was very informative and comprehensive. He managed to present the main points of Canadian Immigration Policy and his personal attitude to some issues in a clear and concise way. He was very articulate and sounded really confident. In addition, the Q&A session at the end of his speech helped to clarify any contradictive issues, which aroused during his speech. The meeting was organized primary for educational purposes, and without doubt brought a lot of interesting insights on Canadian Immigration Policy and multicultural issues in general.
References
J. Kenney. Personal profile. Retrieved from: http://www.jasonkenney.ca/
Hon. Jason Kenney. Member of Parliament Profile. Retrieved from http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/ProfileMP.aspx?Key=170319
J. Geddes (May, 2009). Best Overall: Jason Kenney. Maclean’s Magazine. Retrieved from http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/05/14/best-overall-jason-kenney/
