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Ontario MPs urge Ottawa to drop visa requirements
The Canadian Press, January 11, 2008
Windsor, Ontario (CP) -- MPs in the area of Windsor, Ont., have launched a campaign to remove visa requirements for Polish visitors to Canada.
Poland joined the European Union in 2004 and subsequently dropped visa requirements for Canadian visitors.
But Canada, while allowing visitors from the Czech Republic and Latvia to enter without visas since November, has continued to require visas from Polish residents.
A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada says the government is working toward visa exemptions for all EU member states, including Poland, as soon as possible.
New Democrats Joe Comartin, who represents the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh, and Brian Masse, who represents Windsor West, are spearheading the campaign.
Comartin says he heard from a woman in Poland who was trying to visit her sister and was turned down after being told she was probably just trying to come to Canada to get married.
''Her sister was having a baby ... and (she) was turned down and told by our staff person there that she wasn't allowed to come because she was very attractive and was coming just to get married.''
Comartin says Canada should encourage greater ties with Poland.
''Not only should we drop this because Poland wants us to drop this requirement, we should drop it because we want to drop it and we want to have much greater ties with Poland,'' he said.
''That pride is one that we should be fostering and not slapping them in the face.''
Jerry Barycki, president of the Canadian-Polish Business Association of Windsor, says the visa requirement hampers Polish businessmen from investing in Canada.
''They are always looking for business opportunities _ overseas especially,'' he said.
''However, they don't like to lose their time and money for some bureaucratic process to obtain a Canadian visa. This is bad for business.''
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