{"id":624098,"date":"2024-06-13T18:01:21","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T15:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-we-got-to-41-million\/"},"modified":"2024-06-13T18:01:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T15:01:21","slug":"how-we-got-to-41-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-got-to-41-million\/","title":{"rendered":"#How We Got to 41 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3c68ce816d5\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3c68ce816d5\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-got-to-41-million\/#Subscribe_Now\" >Subscribe Now<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-got-to-41-million\/#Get_the_Best_of_Macleans_straight_to_your_inbox\" >Get the Best of Maclean\u2019s straight to your inbox.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wp-block \">\n<div class=\"relative ad-free-zone\">\n<div class=\"w-screen overflow-hidden -mt-20\">\n<div class=\"tablet:h-[calc(100svh)] overflow-hidden flex flex-col-reverse tablet:grid tablet:grid-cols-2 tablet:text-white tablet:bg-dark\">\n<div class=\"grid place-content-center tablet:pt-40 px-20 tablet:pl-10\">\n<div class=\"tablet:text-white  w-full max-w-[600px] mx-auto tablet:max-w-[640px] py-20 tablet:px-40 tablet:p-40 bg-opacity-100 tablet:bg-opacity-[var(--bg-opacity)] text-center\">\n<div class=\"text-text-grey-light leading-smm text-smm tablet:text-base tablet:leading-smxl font-lightmedium font-sans mb-10\">For decades, Canada has been a model of inclusive immigration. But over the last few years, the Liberals have admitted too many people, too fast. Why did no one see it coming?\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"tablet:text-white  author text-xs leading-xs whitespace-break-spaces\">BY STEPHEN MAHER<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tablet:row-start-auto row-start-1 tablet:h-[calc(100svh)]\"><img alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1772\" height=\"2000\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"(max-width: 834px) 50vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=384&amp;q=80 384w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=80 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=80 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=80 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=80 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=80 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=80 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=80 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=80 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=80\"\/> <span class=\"all-small-caps text-grey\"> <!-- -->photograph by istock<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"max-w-[640px] mx-auto pb-20 px-20 pt-20\">\n<div class=\"mb-8 flex gap-6\">\n<div class=\"relative inline-block\"><button aria-label=\"Sharing Button\" class=\"rounded-xl border border-grey-light px-12 py-6 hover:bg-grey-lighter transition-colors\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" fill=\"none\"><g clip-path=\"url(#share_svg__a)\"><path stroke=\"#121212\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" d=\"M2.419 15.525c1.286-1.37 4.661-4.275 9.458-4.275V15l6.25-6.25-6.25-6.25v3.75c-4.125 0-9.413 3.941-10 9.027a.313.313 0 0 0 .542.248\"\/><\/g><defs><clippath id=\"share_svg__a\"><path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M0 0h20v20H0z\"\/><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"fixed laptop:absolute max-laptop:bottom-0 laptop:top-[calc(100%+20px)] left-0 right-0 laptop:right-auto w-full laptop:w-[190px] p-20 rounded-lg bg-white font-sans shadow-[0px_0px_10px_rgba(0,0,0,0.15)] invisible\">\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Copy Link<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Email<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span><a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a><\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>X<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Whats<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a><\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"uppercase text-xs leading-normal font-sans text-grey font-lightmedium\">June 13, 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap     undefined\">Immigration is at the heart of Canada\u2019s success. It\u2019s the gas that keeps our economic, cultural and social engines running. But in the last few years, the federal government has admitted too many people without a plan for where they would live. Back in 2013, Statistics Canada projected that Canada would have just 38.7 million people by 2023\u2014a massive miscalculation. The consequences showed up everywhere. Tent encampments popped up all over the place, even in small towns. Rent soared, house prices flew out of reach. Half of all Canadians either did not have a doctor or could not get an appointment. Foreign students were shocked to arrive in Canada to find that they had to rent a bed in a shared room. Some newcomers were forced to live in shelters and, when the shelters were full, to sleep in the streets. A year later, it is obvious that the government has slow-walked us into a catastrophe. It would be wrong to say that immigration caused it, since that implies immigrants are to blame. It was the Liberals who kept bringing people in. They didn\u2019t see the crisis coming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, with his unerring instinct for finding political weak spots, swiftly capitalized on the Liberals\u2019 folly, arguing that the sitting government had broken the Canadian dream. He also promised that a Conservative government would put financial pressure on municipalities to remove barriers to development, an approach the Liberals rejected out of hand. The government was slow to take ownership of the issue. Last July, Justin Trudeau was in Hamilton\u2014a city that was recently forced to legalize tent encampments\u2014to announce federal funding for an affordable housing project. \u201cI\u2019ll be blunt as well. Housing isn\u2019t a primary federal responsibility,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that we have direct carriage of.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">His deflection didn\u2019t work. More recently, the Liberals have accepted that they were partly responsible for the housing crisis, throwing huge amounts of energy and money at the problem. In April of 2024, at a housing announcement in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Trudeau acknowledged the crisis\u2014and accepted that his government\u2019s immigration policies were partly to blame. \u201cOver the past few years we\u2019ve seen a massive spike in temporary immigration,\u201d he said, \u201cwhether it\u2019s temporary foreign workers, or whether it\u2019s international students in particular that have grown at a rate that\u2019s far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block \">\n<div class=\"inline-magazine-block ad-free-zone max-w-screen-desktop mx-auto px-20 tablet:px-40 py-20 tablet:py-40\">\n<div class=\"border border-dark border-b-6&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;flex flex-col-reverse tablet:grid grid-cols-[2fr_repeat(3,_1fr)] gap-0 tablet:gap-20 desktop:gap-40 items-center px-20 py-40 laptop:p-40&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;\">\n<div class=\"max-w-[400px] mx-auto text-center laptop:pr-20\">\n<p><h2 class=\"text-red\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Subscribe_Now\"><\/span>Subscribe Now<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><em>Maclean\u2019s<\/em> magazine offers something you can\u2019t get anywhere else: deeply reported, compellingly told longform feature stories on the most urgent topics in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">By then, as Poilievre had suggested, the Liberals were pressuring municipalities and provinces to approve more housing as a condition of federal funding. Finally, the government was tackling the problem from both ends, taking steps to expand supply and reduce demand. But it was too little, too late. It will take years to fix the crisis they\u2019ve created. That\u2019s terrible <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> for the Liberals, who are facing a wipeout in the next election. There will be fewer homes built this year than last. Young people, who cannot hope to buy real estate like their parents did, have largely abandoned the Liberals. Only 25 per cent of 18-to-35-year-olds would now vote Liberal, according to an analysis from Abacus Data CEO David Coletto. This group of voters, who were vital to Trudeau\u2019s three election victories, are dispirited by their inability to afford housing, gloomy about their prospects and listening to Poilievre\u2019s promises.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">What\u2019s worrying is the waning support for immigration: two years ago, 14 per cent of Canadians stated there were too many immigrants coming to the country, according to pollster Frank Graves of EKOS Research Associates Inc. Now it\u2019s 57 per cent. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d he says. For decades, while the United States and Europe were trapped in emotional, divisive debates about migrants, most Canadians saw immigration working, setting us apart as a more inclusive society. This gave us a distinct economic advantage, making Canada a welcoming place for refugees and giving us a fighting chance at coping with the crushing demographic crunch coming when the boomers all retire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">In two years, that consensus has fallen apart. How come nobody saw this coming?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap     undefined\"><strong>In 1965, during<\/strong> a three-week stint in Sudbury, folk singer Stompin\u2019 Tom Connors wrote an ode to the hard-drinking, nickel-smelting, bingo-playing people who populated the mining town. \u201cSudbury Saturday Night,\u201d his biggest hit, is remembered for its singalong chorus\u2014\u201cthe girls are out to bingo, and the boys are gettin\u2019 stinko\u201d\u2014but the second verse tells a story about immigration. Connors sings about the jumble of nationalities drinking together: Irish Jim O\u2019Connell, German Trixie and Hunky Frederic Herzal. It\u2019s no longer politically correct\u2014\u201chunky\u201d is an outdated slur for Ukrainians\u2014but it celebrates immigration, reflecting, in its rough way, the growing pleasure in diversity that was emerging from Canada\u2019s grassroots in the 1960s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide \"><img alt=\"alt tag missing\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS157.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><figcaption class=\"w-full text-left\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">At the beginning of the 20th century, everything was different. In English Canada, the Orange Order wanted only Protestant Anglos and, in French Canada, the Catholic Church was leading a desperate demographic struggle against the swelling numbers of English speakers. Each saw the other as a threat, but neither group wanted immigrants who would change the ethnic character of the country. They wanted more people like them. As Rudyard Kipling told a Toronto audience in 1907, \u201cYou want immigration, and the best way to keep the yellow man out is to get the white man in. If you keep out the white then you will have the yellow man, for you must have labour.\u201d And so, for 100 years after Confederation, the federal government encouraged a nakedly racist immigration system, seeking Europeans to till the farmland in the Prairies and the West.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">When Canada could not recruit enough Britons, it settled for white Germans, Poles, Ukrainians and Italians. Under pressure from the Conservatives, who campaigned on a \u201cWhite Canada\u201d platform, Wilfrid Laurier put a $100 head tax on Chinese immigrants and signed a cabinet order to prohibit Black people from entering the country. The 1910 Immigration Act allowed officials to exclude any immigrants \u201cbelonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">The policy worked. Between 1897 and 1914, more than three million immigrants\u2014mostly white\u2014came to Canada, almost doubling the population of the young country and ushering in a period of rapid growth and industrial expansion. Another big wave began after the Second World War, once again fuelled by a policy encouraging white immigration, although the racism was less overt. Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King allowed public servants to select immigrants based on the \u201cabsorptive capacity\u201d of the country, which allowed his party to quietly favour white immigrants while excluding Jews and Communists. Canada took in tens of thousands of European refugees and even sent civil servants to Europe to help process them, motivated by both humanitarianism and a desire for labour to fuel the rapidly expanding economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">It wasn\u2019t until 1962 that Canada\u2019s first female cabinet minister, Ellen Fairclough of John Diefenbaker\u2019s Progressive Conservative government, ended the White Canada policy. It no longer reflected the values of the increasingly diverse country. Canada moved toward colour-blind criteria: a points system that admitted immigrants on the basis of their education and skills. Pierre Trudeau\u2019s Liberals put the last piece in place when they adopted a policy of multiculturalism in response to pressure from cultural groups who felt left out by official bilingualism. This pro-diversity position opened the door to newcomers from the West Indies and Asia. By 2000, most immigrants were coming from China, India and Pakistan. The ethnic composition of Canada was transformed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">The waves of diverse immigrants during the postwar boom years put Canadians increasingly at ease with newcomers, fostering a more open society, more welcoming than others around the world. Immigrants brought new flavours and sounds, education and energy, boosting the economy and making Canada more worldly. We were helped by an accident of geography. Unlike the United States, with its long border with Mexico, or Western European countries, which are nearer to Africa and Asia, Canada has never had a large number of undocumented workers or backlash against them. Because so many immigrants arrived with higher education, they could contribute at hospitals and universities, rather than competing for work at the bottom of the pay scale. It wasn\u2019t perfect\u2014many immigrants still faced barriers to success\u2014but no other country did a better job at attracting highly educated immigrants. Around the world, countries saw Canada\u2019s system as a model. Even Donald Trump spoke of it approvingly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">This gave Canadians companies a competitive advantage, since they could bring in people more easily than in other countries. Our refugee settlement programs were celebrated as the best in the world. And Canadians supported it all. Polling shows that from the 1970s until last year, support for immigration gradually increased. It dipped in lean years\u2014when work is hard to find, people want fewer immigrants\u2014but over time, the trend was upward, and there was no large-scale political reaction against newcomers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Even Conservatives, who represent less-diverse rural areas, came around. The Reform Party flirted with anti-immigration policies, but new Canadians had no reason to back a movement that was sending them mixed messages, and there were by then too many new Canadians to ignore. And so the party moved toward the mainstream on immigration and, by the time the Canadian Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party of Canada, it was no longer complaining about changes to the ethnic composition of the country. Party strategists could see that the suburbs\u2014where they needed to win seats\u2014were full of voters of diverse backgrounds, and they set out to win over newcomers. Stephen Harper\u2019s government continued with pro-immigration policy, expanding the number of temporary foreign workers. In his last days as prime minister, in the 2015 election, Harper tried out anti-Islam messages, but they didn\u2019t land\u2014his misguided tirade against \u201cbarbaric cultural practices\u201d helped Trudeau get elected. Kellie Leitch campaigned on anti-immigrant sentiment in the 2017 Conservative race to replace Harper, but finished sixth. Maxime Bernier\u2019s People\u2019s Party is explicitly anti-immigration, but he has never elected a member of Parliament.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Canada is too diverse for an anti-immigrant election strategy. At the time of the 2021 census, 23 per cent of Canadians were foreign-born, one of the highest rates in the world. Almost half of Torontonians come from elsewhere. If you were born in 1960 in Sudbury, or most other places in Canada, you would have grown up with kids whose parents came from other countries. A 2018 Ipsos Public Affairs survey of 20,767 people in 27 countries found Canada was the most inclusive. Unlike in the United States, Britain or France, where anti-immigrant politicians amplify the views of those who feel like strangers in their own country, in Canada those people are sidelined and silenced. Until recently, when support for immigration suddenly plummeted, threatening the consensus that has allowed Canada to keep welcoming newcomers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap     undefined\"><strong>In 2016, the Trudeau government<\/strong> appointed Dominic Barton\u2014then the global managing director of elite consulting firm McKinsey &amp; Co.\u2014to chair the new government\u2019s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. The following year, the blue-ribbon panel came out with a report that called for Canada to gradually increase the number of permanent immigrants every year, peaking at 450,000 after five years. Although the government did not officially adopt the policy, it was quietly acting on it, tabling a plan for 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025. Outside government, Barton had established a business lobby group\u2014the Century Initiative\u2014to push for Canada to reach a population of 100 million by 2100. (The group\u2019s CEO recently softened their stance, claiming that this wasn\u2019t meant to be a literal target, but intended to spark conversation about population growth in Canada.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is JULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS158-1024x1024.jpg\" rel=\"preload\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 600 400'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNk2AUAAMAAvMotNCIAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS158-1024x1024.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 1x, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS158-1024x1024.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS158-1024x1024.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">As Barton and big employers were making the argument in the boardrooms and corridors of power, <em>Globe and Mail<\/em> columnist Doug Saunders was pleading his case in the public square. In 2019, he published <em>Maximum Canada: Toward a Country of 100 Million, <\/em>which argued persuasively for more rapid growth, so that Canada would be bigger and more powerful, gaining cultural, economic and geopolitical benefits from greater scale. This was the intellectual philosophy that underpinned the surge in immigration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">The concept took off in 2021 and 2022. Coming out of the pandemic, Canada was desperate for labour. Tim Hortons franchises were reporting a staffing crisis as demand exploded. More than half of small businesses surveyed told the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that they were struggling to hire. The shortage was putting the economic recovery at risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">The Liberals weren\u2019t giving businesses what they wanted in fiscal or tax policy, so they stopped saying no to them on immigration. That went doubly so for universities and colleges\u2014which happened to be important sources of Liberal votes. Many of them had responded to provincial funding cuts by ramping up programs for international students, who could be charged higher tuition, some for programs of dubious value.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">The Liberals were making it a lot easier to get into Canada. In April of 2022, they removed the cap on low-wage workers in seasonal industries, like fish processing and fruit picking, and extended visas for international students. That December, they gave work permits to family members of temporary foreign workers and increased the number of hours international students could work. Throughout, they were adding staff to process applications more quickly, introducing streamlined processes for highly skilled workers, opening the doors as wide as they could. They were also developing new pathways to permanent residency for students and temporary workers, which made those programs more desirable because students and workers could hope to eventually get a Canadian passport. In the same period, they also brought in more than 200,000 Ukrainian refugees, and an unknown number of migrants came in without papers, crossing at Roxham Road in the Quebec townships and at other unofficial border crossings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Then there were the incoming international students\u2014more than 600,000 in 2021 and more than 800,000 in 2022, up from 142,200 in 2010. Some dodgy career colleges were acting as de facto visa clearing houses. The Liberals kept handing out visas, allowing students to be milked for high tuition and cheap labour. The students, who had reason to hope they could one day get permanent residency, kept streaming in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">These policies all came to a head in the third quarter of 2022, when the population grew by 362,453, the fastest rate of growth since 1957, when Hungarian refugees arrived in the midst of the postwar baby boom. Employers, provincial leaders, bank economists and cultural communities were all on side. Inside the federal bureaucracy, however, there were warnings. In a briefing in 2022, officials warned, \u201cPopulation growth has exceeded the growth in available housing units.\u201d But nobody was listening. \u201cObviously, no one was thinking any of those thoughts,\u201d a senior Liberal told me. \u201cI can\u2019t remember any conversations about, \u2018Hey, all these temporary foreign workers, all these students, where are we going to put them? How are we going to treat them? How are they going to find a dentist?\u2019\u2005\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">As the Liberals threw the doors open, they were being cheered on by employers, post-secondary institutions and even the provinces. \u201cYou can imagine it\u2019s hard inside government, facing these stakeholder groups, to resist pressure to accommodate,\u201d says Tyler Meredith, who was an economic adviser to Trudeau until 2022. The Liberals were saying yes to everyone, opening new pathways, and they were doing so without imposing caps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Those who still support high levels of immigration say that it\u2019s part of the solution to the housing crisis, because of labour shortages in the trades. But Mikal Skuterud, an economist at the University of Waterloo, argues persuasively that this is an illusion because newcomers don\u2019t just provide labour, they also consume all kinds of things: food, health care, housing. \u201cYou\u2019re generating a lot of extra demand.\u201d Skuterud and other economists think that chasing economic growth through low-skill immigration is foolish because it increases economic activity but reduces GDP per capita and discourages business investment. \u201cIf you have access to cheap labour, you have no motivation to increase productivity,\u201d says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets Inc. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s part of the reason why productivity in Canada is not advancing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Under economic and political pressure, our leaders made short-term decisions, straying from the long-standing Canadian policy of only letting in immigrants who are likely to add to the country\u2019s productivity in the long term and leaning instead on unskilled temporary workers. They seem to have been guided by the view, as advocated by Barton and Saunders, that a bigger Canada would be a better Canada. But they didn\u2019t do the planning that was necessary. In his book, Saunders acknowledged that his idea would only work if Canada was prepared to make the necessary investments in housing, transit and integration, to prevent new Canadians from ending up unhoused, unemployed and unsupported. \u201cThe risk of any immigration increase\u2019s tipping the balance of Canadian public opinion from tolerance into distrust might make it not worth considering,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligndefault \"><img alt=\"alt tag missing\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FJULY-2024_Immigration-think-piece_ZOOMED-STATS159.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><figcaption class=\"w-full text-left\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Now that this has happened, policy-makers and planners will have to acknowledge their failures and listen to voters, who are preoccupied with housing prices, health-care shortages and cost-of-living issues. In the short term, they\u2019ll need to decide how many immigrants to admit based only on those criteria.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">On the global stage, Canada punches below its weight. In both military and foreign aid, we spend less than similar countries, which means we do less to solve problems around the planet. The one thing we bring to the table is the ability to offer sanctuary to people from afar. Beginning with displaced people from Europe after the Second World War, continuing with Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans fleeing Soviet crackdowns in the 1950s and \u201960s, then the Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s and, most recently, refugees from wars in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, we have an important tradition of taking in displaced people, welcoming them and helping them make new homes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"    endstyle undefined\">We can only do that when Canadians believe the system works, that there is room enough for everyone. That is no longer true. If we value that tradition\u2014one of the best things about our country\u2014we need to make sure we have enough to offer new Canadians before bringing them here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligndefault \"><img alt=\"alt tag missing\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FCOVER_0724_0113_DRE_REV.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><figcaption class=\"w-full text-left\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"     undefined\">This story appears in the July issue of\u00a0<em>Maclean\u2019s<\/em>. You can buy the issue\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/macleans-july-2024\">here<\/a>\u00a0or subscribe to the magazine\u00a0here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block \">\n<div class=\"ad-free-zone laptop:px-0\">\n<div class=\"max-w-screen-desktop mx-auto px-20 tablet:px-40\">\n<div class=\"wp-newsletter-signup max-w-screen-desktop mx-auto w-full py-20 my-20 tablet:my-40 tablet:py-80&#10;          border-t-3 tablet:border-t-[6px] border-dark bg-white\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col tablet:flex-row max-w-[800px] w-full mx-auto tablet:items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col tablet:w-7\/12 space-y-10 text-center tablet:text-left px-20\">\n<h2 class=\"text-red\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Get_the_Best_of_Macleans_straight_to_your_inbox\"><\/span>Get the Best of <em>Maclean\u2019s<\/em> straight to your inbox.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"newsletter-subtitle font-sans text-sm leading-xm tablet:leading-smm font-lightmedium text-grey\">Sign up for news, commentary, analysis and promotions. Join 80,000+ Canadian readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/society\/how-we-got-to-41-million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, Canada has been a model of inclusive immigration. But over the last few years, the Liberals have admitted too many people, too fast. Why did no one see it coming? BY STEPHEN MAHER photograph by istock Copy Link Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit June 13, 2024 Immigration is at the heart of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":624099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cms.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/JULY-2024_IMMIGRATION-THINKPIECE_ISTOCK.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-624098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}