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At the convention of the Liberal Party of Canada, immigration was brought to the forefront during the speech of Member of Parliament. Joe Volpe. Mr. Volpe served as the Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration from January 2005 until the election of a Conservative Party government in January 2006.<\/p>\n
Speaking as a candidate for the leadership of the party, Mr. Volpe chose to focus on his work on behalf of immigrants both as a member of parliament and during the time he spent as Minister in his appeal to delegates. An immigrant himself, he arrived in Canada at age 7 with his family from Monteleone in Italy. A major theme throughout his speech was the accomplishments of immigrants in Canada, highlighted by his own experiences. “For me Canada was paradise, and it still is”, said Volpe. He spoke of the need to ensure that policies reflect the contributions made by immigrants to Canada.<\/p>\n
Despite entering the convention in seventh place amongst the 8 remaining candidates, Volpe said that his supporters requested he remain in the race to ensure that the party is still open to immigrants. While several of the contenders for the position made improving the immigration process part of their platform, Volpe was the only one to dedicate a significant portion of their speech to the delegates to such issues.<\/p>\n
The convention, held in Montreal from November 29th to December 2nd, elected Stephane Dion as the new party leader. The post had been vacant since the resignation of former Prime Minister the Right Honourable Paul Martin following his party\u2019s election loss in January of this year.<\/p>\n