Not Withstanding...

...the knee capping the Cons have received in recent weeks, some good things are still happening. Of course, Canada's future Prime Minister's Department of Immigration is behind it.

"Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Friday that starting immediately, spouses will have to wait five years from the day they are granted permanent residence status in Canada before they can sponsor a new spouse.

The move is meant to prevent people from fraudulently marrying Canadians for the purposes of immigration only to leave them and then sponsor a new partner while their Canadian spouse is still financially responsible for them for three years.

"I held town hall meetings across the country to hear from victims of marriage fraud," said Kenney, who made the announcement in Brampton, Ont., just west of Toronto.

"In addition to the heartbreak and pain that came from being lied to and deceived, these people were angry. They felt they had been used as a way to get to Canada. We're taking action because immigration to Canada should not be built upon deceit."

The move comes less than two years after the Conservatives promised to tackle marriage fraud. In the fall of 2010, the government held online consultations to gather public opinion and ideas on how to address the issue."

And that's not the only thing he's done:

"Immigration Minister Jason Kenney raised the spectre Thursday of simmering social divisions over immigration in Europe and the U.S. to defend a plan to bring in immigrants who will bolster the economy.

Kenney, in a speech in Toronto, said he plans to adjust the points system for skilled workers to put greater emphasis on youth with "high quality credentials," and on the ability of applicants to speak either English or French."

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""If we can improve the economic outcomes of immigrants, debates over the degree of their social integration would virtually disappear. That's because I strongly believe that economic integration is the best path to social integration," he said."

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""We don't have to look very far to see what happens when that integrity is undermined," he said.

"It's happened across Europe and even to some extent in the United States, where public support for the entire immigration system has fallen after widespread illegal migration and consequent abuse of public resources have gone unchecked.""

In the meantime, what's that they say about the luck of the Irish?

Moving right along.