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Classic right wing. "rash of refugees at the border" narrative these people all have the same lizard brainDiane Francis: We need immigrants — but not a flood of them
Immigration should target those who can contribute to the economy
Author of the article:
Diane Francis
Publishing date:
May 20, 2021
You have to wonder if the Liberals consulted Statistics Canada before they barreled ahead with their plan to allow 1.2 million more immigrants into the country over the next three years.
Last week, I pointed out that Canada’s unemployment rate is high, at 8.1 per cent, compared to 6.1 per cent in the United States and 5.6 per cent in Australia. Both those countries have prudently cut back on immigration because of the recession and job losses due to the pandemic. But not Canada.
Stephen Poloz on inflation, immigration & commodities
A deeper dive into Canadian statistics yields another reason this proposed policy is unjustified. The rate of unemployment in 2020 among immigrants was dramatically higher than the average, according to Statistics Canada. In 2020, there was 13.5 per cent unemployment among immigrants who landed less than five years before; 11.7 per cent among those who arrived six to 10 years earlier; and 9.5 per cent among those who have been here for more than a decade.
Most importantly, unemployment in Ontario is sky high and given that it’s the principal destination for new immigrants, this must be front and centre when setting migratory targets. Here are the facts: as of April 30, unemployment in the province was at nine per cent, which is down from a pandemic high of 13.5 per cent in May 2020, but still higher than the national average.
And given that Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino intends to allow over 300,000 family class immigrants, along with 198,000 refugee and humanitarian immigrants, to enter the country over the next three years, the issue of housing should be considered.
Housing prices are already sky high throughout most of the country. Bringing in over a million immigrants in such a short time frame will only serve to drive prices even higher, which will price even more Canadians out of the market. This is especially true in large centres like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, which already lack affordable housing.
In Ontario, the waiting list to get subsidized housing is between seven and 10 years. In Montreal, 23,000 people are on a waiting list for social housing, but many units sit in disrepair due to government budget constraints. Worse, half of Montreal’s 21,000 social housing units are already sub-standard. An influx of new immigrants will only exacerbate these problems.
And this will add to the problems caused by the rash of refugee and asylum seekers who started illegally crossing the border en masse in 2017. According to figures compiled by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, police intercepted 58,939 so-called irregular border crossers from the beginning of 2017 to the end of 2020.
All were supported by government until their cases were adjudicated to determine whether they were bona fide refugees. So far, 17,709 have been accepted as refugees, 14,017 were rejected and 24,728 cases are pending. Only a few have been withdrawn.
A snapshot of the refugee problem was taken in April 2018 and showed that 60 per cent of people in Toronto’s shelters were immigrants or refugees.
Until these figures are reduced to manageable levels, the government has absolutely no business substantially increasing immigration into Canada. To do so, given the facts, means that more Canadians will lose their homes and their jobs. And the cost of providing social services to the displaced Canadians and new immigrants will place an undue burden on our already heavily indebted treasury.
The minister should show Canadians a detailed cost-benefit analysis. Immigration is needed, but should target those who can contribute to the economy.
but yeah immigration getting connected to housing prices is definitely bad for immigration