Update | Anger over rich Chinese blamed for Canada migration scheme's axing
Canadian government accused of pandering to 'anti-mainlander' sentiment after it scraps an application-deluged migration programme
Canada's government has been accused of pandering to anti-Chinese sentiment by axing its investor migration scheme, which has brought tens of thousands of rich mainland Chinese to the country.
Members of the Chinese business community in Vancouver, where most wealthy mainland Chinese settle, have criticised last week's announcement in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget which resulted in 65,000 would-be immigrants having their visa applications scrapped.
The Conservative government justified terminating the 28-year-old Immigrant Investor Programme by saying arrivals under the scheme paid far less tax than other economic migrants, and that the programme was riddled with fraud.
There is a backlash against mainland wealthy immigrants
Gabriel Yiu, an activist co-ordinating opposition to the move, on Wednesday accused the government of "smearing" investor migrants as it tried to capitalise on a growing backlash against the influx of Chinese millionaires.
About 37,000 investor migrants have settled in Vancouver since 2005, 66 per cent of them mainland Chinese.
"Before they cancelled the scheme, I have already talked to people and there is a backlash against wealthy mainland [Chinese] immigrants, not just in mainstream society but within the Chinese community," he said.
Yiu said that innocent would-be immigrants dumped from the queue were paying the price for this pandering, adding that it was "unfair".