Time To Seriously Reduce The Number Of Immigrants To Canada

dumpthemonarchy

House Member
Jan 18, 2005
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Newcomers to Canada just aren't doing as well as native born Canucks. This has happened for a while but it is time for govt to respond and lower immigration levels. Time for a breather to pay for all the needless stimulus packages to let the unemployment fall and benefit labour, as opposed to capital.

Close the gates to newcomers

Close the gates to newcomers


The reality is that for some years now the costs of immigration have exceeded the benefits



By JAMES BISSETT, Canwest News ServicesMarch 17, 2010

Industry Minister Tony Clement has bemoaned the fact that Canada's unemployment figures are at an "unacceptable level" and claims that job creation is a top priority of the federal government. If the minister is serious about this he might then well ask his colleague Jason Kenney, the immigration minister, why our immigration levels are at such unprecedented high levels when there are 1.3 million men and women looking for work.

In the past two years while the country has been in the midst of a serious recession 483,000 immigrants entered Canada. In addition to the immigrants, in 2008 alone, 192,519 temporary foreign workers entered and joined the 170,975 who were already here - for an amazing total of 363,494.

Why such high volumes if indeed the government is worried about job losses? Are ministers not aware that in the first year of recession Canada lost 486,000 full-time jobs and within the next few months 810,000 workers will run out of unemployment benefits?

In the past when Canada was entering an economic downturn it was customary to turn the immigration tap off, or at least to slow it down. The rationale was simple: What was the point in bringing to Canada immigrants who would find it difficult to find employment, and why make it more difficult for unemployed Canadians workers to get back to work?

However, for the past 20 years governments have set immigration levels extraordinarily high, aiming for about 250,000 a year, regardless of economic or labour-force conditions. As the number of applications increased an enormous backlog has piled up. In June of 2008 it was estimated to be between 900,000 and 950,000. Now it probably exceeds one million.

The staggering number of foreign temporary workers entering Canada is a direct result of the inability of visa officers overseas to deal with the high volume of immigration set by the government targets. Canadian employers trying to avoid lengthy immigration delays hire foreign temporary workers instead. They frequently engage agents abroad to select and recruit the workers.

Since many of these workers do not have to undergo normal criminal and security checks, they are able to get to Canada faster and avoid the backlog. Many of the workers are unskilled with poor language qualifications and it is known they must pay their agent large sums of money to be chosen for Canada. How many of them will eventually return home is an open question.

One of the serious consequences of reliance on temporary workers is the danger of falling into the same trap as many of the western European countries in the 1960s and '70s when they lost control of their guest-worker and asylum programs. These countries suddenly - but too late - realized they had inadvertently created a massive underclass residing in their major urban centres.

Studies have shown that the immigrants arriving since the early 1990s are not doing as well as those from earlier times. Many are living below the so-called poverty line and immigrants between the ages of 25 and 54 have a much higher unemployment rate than the native born.


Only about 18 per cent of immigrants are selected by the federal government because they possess the skills, training, or education needed to fill labour shortages. By far the greater numbers are selected because they are sponsored by relatives who are already in Canada or they are admitted for humanitarian reasons, are refugees, or are chosen by the provinces.

The reality is that for a number of years now the costs of immigration have exceeded the benefits, and the long-range economic, social, and environmental implications of continuing such high levels - especially during times of economic uncertainty - have not been taken into account by governments.

Our political representatives have a responsibility - if not a duty - to address important issues of public policy. It is high time they took a hard and intelligent look at our immigration policy and in a non-partisan fashion introduce measures to ensure that immigration serves the interests of Canada. This is not happening now, and now is not the time for our politicians to opt out.

James Bissett is former executive director of the Canadian Immigration Service.

Ottawa Citizen

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
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Toronto
Every immigrant entering this country should be skilled, none of this sponsored immigration where we end up with all sorts of riffraff.

Canada really does need to start recognizing foreign credentials though, you would be amazed at the number of taxi drivers in Toronto with professional degrees.
 

dumpthemonarchy

House Member
Jan 18, 2005
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Every immigrant entering this country should be skilled, none of this sponsored immigration where we end up with all sorts of riffraff.

Canada really does need to start recognizing foreign credentials though, you would be amazed at the number of taxi drivers in Toronto with professional degrees.

Sure, many immigrants are professionals but they are not always as qualified as their papers say. In an article last year in The Globe and Mail, it said an engineer from India just managed workers in a road gang. Then their English skills are often weak. Then there are cultural problems. Asia is not Canada.

I met an engineer from the national Hydroelectric company of Korea and he could not get a job as an engineer in Canada because of his poor language skills. He ws very smart. He stayed in Cnada because his wife wanted to and could give his kids an English education

Do we really have a serious shortage of skilled labour? The media so often reports, that "In ten years we will have a shortage." But today? Where are the companies clamouring for engineers? They are very few and they recruit on an ongoing basis. But a crisis? No.
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
Sure, many immigrants are professionals but they are not always as qualified as their papers say. In an article last year in The Globe and Mail, it said an engineer from India just managed workers in a road gang. Then their English skills are often weak. Then there are cultural problems. Asia is not Canada.

I met an engineer from the national Hydroelectric company of Korea and he could not get a job as an engineer in Canada because of his poor language skills. He ws very smart. He stayed in Cnada because his wife wanted to and could give his kids an English education

Do we really have a serious shortage of skilled labour? The media so often reports, that "In ten years we will have a shortage." But today? Where are the companies clamouring for engineers? They are very few and they recruit on an ongoing basis. But a crisis? No.

We might not have a shortage of skilled labour but if we are to continue to try and attract these sorts of immigrants we should not make continuation of their profession so difficult.
 

cdn_bc_ca

Electoral Member
May 5, 2005
389
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Vancouver
We need immigrants.

In a country like Canada where the population is not growing by leaps and bounds, immigration is essential to keep the population from declining.

The employment problem is short term, but a population problem is long term.
 

dumpthemonarchy

House Member
Jan 18, 2005
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In the past 2 months I count three (3) new businesses opened by immigrants within a 60 second walk from my house-I think they're doing quite well too!

Opening a small business is often a sign a person can't find a regular job. But immigrants also see niches we don't. But do we need 400,000 of them like we took in last year? An economy is complex and has different needs, but not always massive needs.
 

dumpthemonarchy

House Member
Jan 18, 2005
4,235
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We might not have a shortage of skilled labour but if we are to continue to try and attract these sorts of immigrants we should not make continuation of their profession so difficult.

Part of the problem is that the fed govt says we need plenty of skilled immigrants, but professional associations are provincially regulated and say we don't need more civil engineers and here's a battery of tests to pass. So job apps for cabbie and security guard go out. Cruel.

The fed govt is very clumsy with immigrants and we may be creating an underclass here. In the old days immigration was targetted, as in getting eastern European peasants to farm the empty prairies. Now immigration is part of a grand multicultural identity of Canada for some zealots, and it shouldn't primarily be that. Nor a business for consultants.

I saw on the CBC news a Chinese immigrant whose new job was to bring in more Chinese immigrants. It's getting a bit redundant here.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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...and is it already developed and employing a few thousand people?
Yup and the miners rightly want more as the mine and list of extractable ores continue to grow.

Globalism looks great when CDN companies are raping a foreign country but not so good when it hits home like Sudbury, Kitimat, Flin Flon Yellowknife and the workers are in a foreign owned dictatorship for 12hrs a day.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
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In the bush near Sudbury
Yup and the miners rightly want more as the mine and list of extractable ores continue to grow.

Globalism looks great when CDN companies are raping a foreign country but not so good when it hits home like Sudbury, Kitimat, Flin Flon Yellowknife and the workers are in a foreign owned dictatorship for 12hrs a day.

What is going to happen when you leave?

My point in bringing up Clement's sell-out is he bemoans immigration in a time of high unemployment yet his decision is the direct cause of unemployment when the new owners focus on moving operations to their homelands.

How much of your product comes to Canada for processing?
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,893
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Low Earth Orbit
What is going to happen when you leave?

My point in bringing up Clement's sell-out is he bemoans immigration in a time of high unemployment yet his decision is the direct cause of unemployment when the new owners focus on moving operations to their homelands.

How much of your product comes to Canada for processing?
Product of Escondida or other operations?
 

Johnnny

Frontiersman
Jun 8, 2007
9,388
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Third rock from the Sun
I dont oppose immigration but ALOT of people say we need to restructure the way we let people in. I agree we have a higher than usual unemployment rate right now so im sure we can lay off the mass immigration for a bit.....
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,893
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Low Earth Orbit
I dont oppose immigration but ALOT of people say we need to restructure the way we let people in. I agree we have a higher than usual unemployment rate right now so im sure we can lay off the mass immigration for a bit.....
Canada doesn't have an immigration problem an internal emigration problem. I know of ****loads of good, permanent, well paying jobs available in a wide array of fields but the only ones coming to get them are immigrants. I don't feel sorry for a Canadian who doesn't have the balls to do what they need to do to survive.

Bitching and whining will never put food on your table but picking up and moving from one location to another will.

It's why immigrants are coming here. They got tired of listening to everyone bitch and complain where they used to live so they came here to drive cab and make donuts so they can get some peace and quiet until they learn enough English to realize everyone here is bitching and complaining too.
 
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