Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
missions, though rather than business deals or inert capital, the goal now is
to secure embodied capital, appropriation of both the capital and the capi-
talist within the borders of the nation state. The objectives of the programme
could not be clearer: 'The Business Immigration Program seeks to attract
experienced business people to Canada who will support the development
of a strong and prosperous Canadian economy' (CIC 2007b). Canada has
transparently entered the global marketplace casting its net for that heroic
animator of classical and now neo-liberal economic aspirations,
homo eco-
nomicus
, the 'most worthy citizen' (Ong 2003: 9) of a market-driven age.
Harrison (1996) saw the BIP as not only a morally tainted cash for citi-
zenship swap, but also a transaction limited to high bidders, introducing a
class barrier to immigration even as ethnic barriers have been lifted.
Certainly the state is prepared to join the
lingua franca
of globalization, the
language of commodification. Moreover, not only citizenship is commodi-
fied, for migrants too are regarded in market terms as prospects for which
there is considerable international competition. Wong (2003) has identified
'the global immigration marketplace' for business immigrants, with Canada
in a competitive struggle to attract candidates against rival business pro-
grammes in Australia, New Zealand, and to a lesser degree, the United
States, the United Kingdom and Singapore. In this marketplace Canada's
trawling has filled the largest net. Between 1980 and 2008 over 400,000
immigrants entered Canada through the various business streams (CIC
various years), outperforming the second-ranking Australian programme by
a ratio of over three to one up to the early 2000s (Wong 2003). The BIP, like
the pan-Pacific trade missions, reveals the role of the state as a global player
actively reaching beyond national borders to enlist key contributors and
contributions to incorporate into the national economy.
15
In part Canada's recruitment success is due to a low threshold for selec-
tion that has always been a feature of its business streams (Ley 2003).
Potential business immigrants are scored on a range of selection criteria;
out of a maximum of 100 points across seven criteria, a pass is currently
secured by an entrepreneur or investor applicant who scores only 35 points
(CIC 2007b). In contrast, applications for independent economic status
(skilled workers) need to score a much more demanding 67 points out of
100 across five criteria. The low threshold means that entry in the business
class can readily be assured even if an applicant has no post-secondary edu-
cation, and speaks neither English nor French. Between 1995 and 1997,
busy years for the BIP, almost half of the principal applicants granted busi-
ness class status had no post-secondary education, while slightly over half
did not speak either official language (CIC 1998). But at least 60 percent of
this cohort planning to enter the work force stated the intent to be self-
employed, exactly the energetic, self-sufficient, entrepreneurial profile
sought by the welcoming nation.
