If you’ve ever lived in or visited Toronto, even for a short time, you’ve heard the heartbreaking ‘I was an engineer in my country’ stories. It may sound cliche or like some kind of urban legend, but we’ve all heard them. I’m talking doctors, pharmacists, engineers; people much smarter than me who deserve better from their newly chosen country.

In London, I know a janitor who worked in Poland as a professional for a large municipality; she lectured at the local university and was a respected member of her community. She fled communism in the late 1980’s to come to Canada; she’s been emptying garbage at our local university ever since. She’s the first to point out that she’s found success in Canada and she loves this country just as much (quite possibly more) than you and I. Her son recently graduated from university and she’s beyond proud of what he has achieved – but as she beams with pride talking about her son I also detect a sense of sadness of ‘what could have been’ for her.

I’m hoping we can all agree, regardless of our political affiliations (or lack thereof), that it isn’t good enough for people to immigrate to Canada in search of a better lives ‘for their kids.’ They deserve to use their skills and talents to build our community and better their lives. It is an utter waste, a tragedy really, letting newcomers’ skills wither on the vine. This isn’t about newcomers failing to work hard or play by the rules. They’re working really damn hard but they’ve been failed by the rules.

So let’s all move past scoring points by using narratives about ‘foreigners’ or ‘the politics of division’ and focus on the real goal: how do we help a very real segment of fellow Canadians apply their skills and talents, and achieve their fullest potential? I’ll be the first to admit that the solution is more complex than a tax credit - be it $400 or $10,000. But if we answer this policy question correctly we’ll have highly skilled folks working in their profession - innovating, helping companies and non-profits achieve their goals, and filling the skills shortages that are just around the corner. We’ll also have a larger tax base; investments in skills development - be them in new Canadians or folks who have been here their whole lives - are repaid many times over through the taxes derived from higher incomes.

I know all political parties want to address this problem. So let’s all tone down the rhetoric and start talking about solutions.

The Liberals have suggested a tax credit - here’s their plan. The Progressive Conservatives have worked on this issue too - Mr. Hudak introduced this bill, which has a ‘Newcomers Employment Opportunities Tax Credit’ as part of the legislation; rather than going with this ‘foreigner’ narrative I’m hoping they’ll promote the virtues of their own proposed legislation and focus campaign messaging on why they got it right then and the Liberals have got it wrong now. I’m unsure if the NDP has a plan, but I’m quite confident that they do (or will) given their political philosophy. I’m happy to add links from the NDP if proposals exist out there that I’m not aware of. There’s only so much legislative research I’m willing to do on a Saturday night.

This issue is just too damn important to make newcomers pawns in some political game. Let’s all remind ourselves of that and recommit ourselves to doing something about this very real public policy issue.