Canadian visa crisis: A surprise or a foreseeable fate?

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At least one government minister has disclosed that he was caught by surprise by the announcement of the new Canadian visa requirement for Antiguan and Barbudan citizens.
Yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Trade, Charles “Max” Fernandez told OBSERVER media that the requirement “is something that [the government was] not aware was coming … there was no smoking gun”.
Fernandez added that the government, through the High Commissioner to Canada, Sir Ronald Saunders, is seeking to alleviate the problems that Antiguans are facing with the visa requirement, by ensuring that the application process is not difficult for Antiguan citizens.
He also stated that the government is seeing how they can keep the cost for that application process down.
In a time of heightened security concerns both in developed and developing  nations around the world, Fernandez stated that, “you cannot fault any country”. He reiterated that the government has sought to strengthen its immigration policy and that other countries must do the same.
 
(More in today’s Daily Observer)

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