Immigration Minister John McCallum to reveal 'substantially' higher newcomer targets

[Machjo]

Immigration Minister John McCallum to reveal 'substantially' higher newcomer targets - Politics - CBC News

I agree with it in principle, but I do have some concerns with it. Yes, increased immigration expands Canada's labour and consumer markets no doubt. But if done improperly, it can also increase costs to the taxpayer. The article itself acknowledged that it could increase costs to the taxpayer.

Though I favour more open borders, I also think it should be done in a more economically efficient manner.

For example, if we simply allowed anyone to come to Canada to study, work, or do business without a visa and of course pay taxes like everyone else, as long as he is self sufficient, this would achieve all of the benefits of immigration (i.e. increased labour and consumer market) but without the negatives like social assistance, language training, etc.

Those who successfully find employment could then consider applying for permanent residency if they want to. But at least that way we could see how they perform in the labour or business market first.

I;m for open borders, but not necessarily for permanent resident or citizen status.

 

[petros]

The backlashing is catching up.

 

[Machjo]

The backlashing is catching up.

What do you mean?

I'm still very pro-immigration and I'm not necessarily backtracking on my previous pro-immigration stance if that's what you mean.

I've always tended to favour open borders for students, workers, and business people over granting permanent residency and citizenship.

I favour those too, but only after the person has had the chance to prove himself except maybe for compassionate reasons such as refugees and family class.

 

[mentalfloss]

Good for him.

Our economy depends entirely on immigration.

 

[Machjo]

Good for him.

Our economy depends entirely on immigration.

The question is, what kind of immigration do we want? I prefer a multi-step process. First, let's get rid of student, work, and business visas and open the border to them visa-free. Then those who succeed in Canada for at least a year can then begin the next stage of the immigration process. We're skipping that first step of trying them out. If we just got rid of student, work, and business visas, this would give us the benefits of immigration but without the costs mentioned in the article, no? Or at least much less cost anyway.

 

[Curious Cdn]

... and they all end up landing in the GTA. The problem with that is the region bears the finiancial brunt of all of the nation's immigration. It also makes housing harder to come by. The area is saturated and there are far more newcomers coming in than blending and assimilating and ethnic ghettos abound.

 

[Machjo]

... and they all end up landing in the GTA. The problem with that is the region bears the finiancial brunt of all of the nation's immigration. It also makes housing harder to come by. The area is saturated and there are far more newcomers coming in than blending and assimilating and ethnic ghettos abound.

Canada's biggest ethnic ghetto is the English one. We're planning on moving to Toronto soon too since my skills can get me more opportunities there. Part of those skills are linguistic, and so the larger the Chinese-speaking community, the better it is for me.

But I'll say it, I'd rather immigrants come on their own dime and support themselves than be supported by the taxpayer. If that means that they all move to the GTA, so be it, let the market take care of it.

Look, the French all want to stay in Quebec, the Nunavummiut all want to stay in Nunavut, the Ojibwa in their communties, and even the English like to move into their ghettos while complainging about ghettoization. So why hold others to a higher standard when we ourselves tend to ghettoize?

Perhaps the fact that I'm in a second-generation exogamous marriage and belong to a family in which six different languages are spoken and some members of the extended family of which do not share a common language, has made me far more aware of the fact that the English-speaking parts of Canada are just as much of a ghetto as the rest, the only difference being that they belong to the largest of these ghettos.

By the way, even I don't speak all six lanuages in my family. I speak only four of them. The good news though is that I do speak the two dominant languages that all of my closest family members speak: English and Mandarin. All of the others usually speak at least one of these two languages at least as a second language.

 

[Remington1]

Toronto Statstics :"Immigrants and visible minority persons account for a disproportionate number of low income persons in the city. Immigrants comprised half of the total popula- tion and 57% of all persons with before-tax income below the LICO. This re ected 346,150 persons in 2006. At the same time, the low income rate for immigrants was 50% above that of low income persons as a whole. Among low income immigrants in 2006, 36% had ar- rived in the previous 5 years and 32% between 1991
and 2000. Top countries of origin were China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica and the Philippines".

Toronto Poorest Community Statistic: Regent Park ( is being closed and citizens moved); Oakridge; Thorncliffe Park; Flemingdon Park; Kensington-Chinatown; South Parkdale; Black Creek; Crescent Town; B r o o k h a v e n - A m e sb u r y ;Rustic Scarborough Village; Eglinton East North; St.Jamestown; Mount Dennis Weston; Kennedy Park; Glenfield-Jane Heights; Beechborough-Greenbrook; Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown; Humbermede; Broadview North; L'Amoreaux Dorset Park; Steeles W e st m i n st e r - B r a n so n Victoria Village. In Toronto anyway, the poorest demographic is definitely not the English. The demographic on welfare, who need much more to survive are also not English.

 

[Curious Cdn]

Toronto Statstics :"Immigrants and visible minority persons account for a disproportionate number of low income persons in the city. Immigrants comprised half of the total popula- tion and 57% of all persons with before-tax income below the LICO. This re ected 346,150 persons in 2006. At the same time, the low income rate for immigrants was 50% above that of low income persons as a whole. Among low income immigrants in 2006, 36% had ar- rived in the previous 5 years and 32% between 1991
and 2000. Top countries of origin were China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica and the Philippines".

The GTA adds a million people a decade. The issue is that, rather than trying to blend into greater North American culture, they often stay in their little enclaves. That is unhealthy for both immigrant and our country.

Saturated ...