I just listened to someone described as a top labour economist in Canada arguing that we should not increase immigration levels in Canada. It was a podcast at thehub.ca and I think the economist was at the University of Waterloo. He made several fairly disjointed arguments but his main thesis was a standard labour economist argument - that moving from a ‘highly skilled’ immigration focus to one that is more broad-based will depress wages, stifle productivity, etc. We should limit low skilled immigration and force industries to focus on productivity and drive up wages.
Given that federal targets for immigration are seemingly ever rising, and that there is no meaningful opposition to these figures from the Conservatives either, this piece comes off rather paranoid and silly. The fact that our local labour force is now not only in direct competition with overseas markets but now also far flung provinces in our own country due to the purportedly unfair distribution of an *increasing* influx of immigrants, is certainly a concern. I'm just not sold on this idea that simply ensuring that we get our fair share of these newcomers is what's needed to avoid economic suicide.
Looking around, after perhaps realizing a kind of delayed economic suicide might have already been commited long ago under the watch of men with similar ideas then as this author holds today, the obvious first question one might have is where are all of these people going to live? The absurdly inflated, unaffordable housing market is the bane of every Canadian's existence that hasn't already bought their way onto ladder (something I suspect the author of this piece has long already done, prior to this most recent explosion in prices). Not that don't suspect he might have some fantastic ideas about fixing the local housing market too, that of which work in tandem with his ideas about more immigrants solving every problem we have, forever...
My point is to ask WHY is it that we seemingly require an endless, bottomless pool of cheap labour scouted from other, less prosperous countries to perpetually kick this can down the road? If this bottling plant in question finds it more viable for their business to in fact move their operation to another province with more eager drones available their to do their heavy lifting, thus enabling them to lower their wages, then why are we to believe that increasing immigration targets is actually a good idea? Is it the threat that we may lose the bottling plant to all together? Something has indeed gone deeply wrong here...
A race to the bottom, for everyone, forever, seemingly. Relative prosperity for the average person may be a bygone vision at this point. It may be that under this current model, more immigration may be what's needed to stave off further decline, but it's really difficult to not see them as simply fodder for the true beneficiaries of mass immigration, the owners of the businesses and apartment/condo blocks that require them for undisturbed capital gains. This system of winners and losers on a global scale isn't set up for Canadian citizens or immigrants alike to ever make much headway in.
Given that federal targets for immigration are seemingly ever rising, and that there is no meaningful opposition to these figures from the Conservatives either, this piece comes off rather paranoid and silly. The fact that our local labour force is now not only in direct competition with overseas markets but now also far flung provinces in our own country due to the purportedly unfair distribution of an *increasing* influx of immigrants, is certainly a concern. I'm just not sold on this idea that simply ensuring that we get our fair share of these newcomers is what's needed to avoid economic suicide.
Looking around, after perhaps realizing a kind of delayed economic suicide might have already been commited long ago under the watch of men with similar ideas then as this author holds today, the obvious first question one might have is where are all of these people going to live? The absurdly inflated, unaffordable housing market is the bane of every Canadian's existence that hasn't already bought their way onto ladder (something I suspect the author of this piece has long already done, prior to this most recent explosion in prices). Not that don't suspect he might have some fantastic ideas about fixing the local housing market too, that of which work in tandem with his ideas about more immigrants solving every problem we have, forever...
My point is to ask WHY is it that we seemingly require an endless, bottomless pool of cheap labour scouted from other, less prosperous countries to perpetually kick this can down the road? If this bottling plant in question finds it more viable for their business to in fact move their operation to another province with more eager drones available their to do their heavy lifting, thus enabling them to lower their wages, then why are we to believe that increasing immigration targets is actually a good idea? Is it the threat that we may lose the bottling plant to all together? Something has indeed gone deeply wrong here...
A race to the bottom, for everyone, forever, seemingly. Relative prosperity for the average person may be a bygone vision at this point. It may be that under this current model, more immigration may be what's needed to stave off further decline, but it's really difficult to not see them as simply fodder for the true beneficiaries of mass immigration, the owners of the businesses and apartment/condo blocks that require them for undisturbed capital gains. This system of winners and losers on a global scale isn't set up for Canadian citizens or immigrants alike to ever make much headway in.
Love the term: MHC (Moncton Halifax Charlottetown)
When I started University in 1960, we called them "Upper Canadians."
David
Totally agree...but first we need a strategy to catch up on our Healthcare provider deficit.