In a field as fundamentally human as immigration, discretion enables the infinite diversity of situations that arise to be resolved humanely.
Discretion takes the rough edges off the legislation.
However, the current system is too complex, lacks transparency and leads to inconsistent decisions. The government proposes to regularize to the extent practicable the situations that are currently dealt with through discretionary powers, and to introduce a range of measures to manage the residual cases more consistently and with greater transparency. I believe that the public accepts that in exceptional cases, executive intervention should be permissible where the result is to confer right or privilege on an individual rather than removal thereof. To limit these powers to situations of national interest or dependency would unduly trammel ministerial discretion and could give rise to situations where an injustice could not be remedied. The Immigration Act includes broad descriptions of who is allowed to enter, and who is prohibited from entering, Canada.