If Canada can admit 17,000 people with criminal convictions, yet leave skilled, law-abiding applicants in limbo — and push even the most qualified newcomers into survival jobs — then something
The problem isn’t really the immigrants. It’s that politicians don’t want to spend any money on public infrastructure and services so that we can continue providing for everyone adequately.
I keep saying it: we aren’t even prepared for the mass flooding that will be caused in Canada by climate change in the coming decades despite civil engineers sounding the alarm for years. We will not be investing in mass transit, basic income, and affordable housing if we can’t even fucking commit to anti-flood measures.
Exactly this. All levels of government have failed to plan and build for our future - the extra 7% of our population just makes it really obvious.
Temporarily stopping/slowing immigration will give us a chance to fix our shit. But we need a government willing to admit there’s a polycrisis and actually start training doctors, building houses, etc.
Can you explain more about what you think is the issue? I’m aware that a lot of the work and support programs we have are incredibly unstable and exploitative (seen pieces of it secondhand with TFW), but I’m curious as to what you’re thinking of.
Sorry it took some time for me to reply to your comment.
The TFW program was initially meant to bring in hard to find specialists to help local enterprises. This system was corrupted under Harper to exploit unskilled foreign workers for jobs in Tim Horton’s and other low-wage positions. Companies couldn’t hire anybody anymore with their shitty low wages so they found a workaround to keep wages cheap.
Later, as boomers started to retire, they increased the amount of immigrant workers that could enter the country to fill the missing positions. But they literally flooded the market with these workers to keep wages low. There were so many in fact that there wasn’t enough positions for all of them. Many ended up doing Skip and Uber deliveries instead, living 5 people in a 1 bedroom apartment to make ends meet. This completely cut off any chances for local talent to access these new positions or even access entry level positions. That’s why we still have entry level software engineer positions at 50-60k/year here in Montreal for example. (I was paid that when I graduated in 2008 btw, so adjusted for inflation, they are paid a LOT less than they should during a time where living expenses have never been so high.)
This caused all kinds of pressures in Canada. On the job market, on rental housing, financial support programs, food banks, etc. Canadian citizens in need suddenly had all these other people to line up with for all these things and that’s unfair.
Sure we need immigration to cover lack of workers. But the rate at which they were let in was way too high.
The problem isn’t really the immigrants. It’s that politicians don’t want to spend any money on public infrastructure and services so that we can continue providing for everyone adequately.
I keep saying it: we aren’t even prepared for the mass flooding that will be caused in Canada by climate change in the coming decades despite civil engineers sounding the alarm for years. We will not be investing in mass transit, basic income, and affordable housing if we can’t even fucking commit to anti-flood measures.
It’s not about immigrants.
Exactly this. All levels of government have failed to plan and build for our future - the extra 7% of our population just makes it really obvious.
Temporarily stopping/slowing immigration will give us a chance to fix our shit. But we need a government willing to admit there’s a polycrisis and actually start training doctors, building houses, etc.
We train lots of doctors but they leave and go to the US. The brain drain is still on.
Yeah. Immigrants aren’t to blame here. It’s government policy failure.
You’re totally right but I really think there’s an issue with immigration nonetheless that’s been going on for several years.
The root cause though is corporate greed and the government that’s in their pocket.
Can you explain more about what you think is the issue? I’m aware that a lot of the work and support programs we have are incredibly unstable and exploitative (seen pieces of it secondhand with TFW), but I’m curious as to what you’re thinking of.
Sorry it took some time for me to reply to your comment.
The TFW program was initially meant to bring in hard to find specialists to help local enterprises. This system was corrupted under Harper to exploit unskilled foreign workers for jobs in Tim Horton’s and other low-wage positions. Companies couldn’t hire anybody anymore with their shitty low wages so they found a workaround to keep wages cheap.
Later, as boomers started to retire, they increased the amount of immigrant workers that could enter the country to fill the missing positions. But they literally flooded the market with these workers to keep wages low. There were so many in fact that there wasn’t enough positions for all of them. Many ended up doing Skip and Uber deliveries instead, living 5 people in a 1 bedroom apartment to make ends meet. This completely cut off any chances for local talent to access these new positions or even access entry level positions. That’s why we still have entry level software engineer positions at 50-60k/year here in Montreal for example. (I was paid that when I graduated in 2008 btw, so adjusted for inflation, they are paid a LOT less than they should during a time where living expenses have never been so high.)
This caused all kinds of pressures in Canada. On the job market, on rental housing, financial support programs, food banks, etc. Canadian citizens in need suddenly had all these other people to line up with for all these things and that’s unfair.
Sure we need immigration to cover lack of workers. But the rate at which they were let in was way too high.