12 Comments

We have a bankruptcy of leadership at all levels. Politicians who have criminalized the homeless and attacked immigrants because of their failing to lead. Blaming the victim. We have a premier in Ontario, whose government has proven itself to be absolutely unprincipled, unethical and incompetent from the day they entered office. They have appealed to the very worst of our nature. Ford as blamed immigrants for all sorts of wrongs with not an iota of proof. Incapable of rational thought, he simply blurts out what comes to his mind. Incapable of speaking in full sentences he is an embarrassment every time he steps before a mike. Now unwilling to do anything substantive about the housing crisis he has criminalized the homeless, many of whom are homeless because of his very own policies such as removing rent controls from structures built after 2018 and making renovictions by wealthy landowners easier. Now he threatens to use the notwithstanding clause to remove these same homeless people from parks. I disagree with this frivolous use of the notwithstanding clause, but note that it would never cross his mind to use it to construct adequate housing for them. We deserve much better and we can only attain it by ridding ourselves of his Ilk in the next election. He promised transparent and accountable government and as a recent Auditor General's report has once again shown we have seen very little of it. This government attained office in part by portraying the former Liberal government as corrupt. Compared to this bunch the former liberal government look positively angelic

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The government is making so many stupid moves lately, where do we start? Serious question. Where does a fed up Canadian with no party affiliation or loyalty start!?

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Before being triggered by your expression "rising anti-immigrant sentiment" we cannot avoid looking at the nature of our immigrants and their impact on the populations they join. Canada has a long, generous and profitable history with immigrants--notably post-war Germans, Koreans, Vietnamese, Italians, Hungarians and many more. Most have integrated smoothly into our culture by their second generation.

Muslims have been less successful...advocating instead for changes to Canadian culture...Sharia law and educational curriculum and facilities demands come to mind. The absence of Canadian Muslim leadership, mosque or organizational condemnation of the Oct. 7/23 Israeli massacre is a

very visible stain on our Muslim communities. That many Canadians react to these demands and behaviours is not any sort of "right wing" activity...it's a totally understandable human response from (hold your breath, David) New Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives...everyone. And no amount of finger-pointing, censorship and name-calling will turn that into racism.

I submit that the "right wing" behaviour is "all wing" behaviour. It is a response to unreasonable demands for cultural change. We do not know what amount of such change is tollerable. But the UK may be experiencing it.

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I agree with everything you say David…..we need an informed immigration policy and they (immigrants) need to feel secure that they are welcome and will find appropriate work and shelter. My dilemma is to know how to do it..how to convince my politicians a tech level that they need to find the political will to make it happen . So fr this has been a futile project. Maybe if we keep throwing this against the wall some of it will eventually stick. Keep up the good work.

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The problem is largely those who vote, which in Canada, are boomers (and I'm one of them).

We've been spoiled rotten during our lives, are the single most wealthy generation to retire, and are the first to vote down any tax increase, ensuring that any hint of a tax increase is only accepted when that tax increase can be pushed on someone else.

A key case in point is "developer charges," the tax for infrastructure allocated to new homes, apartments, etc., which are paid by new homebuyers or renters of new apartments. Which historically were part of general property taxes (which everyone paid) and even more historically (the 1950s to 80s) paid by Federal taxes 'cause public healthcare didn't exist yet, so there were tax dollars to spend.

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Which I bring up, because to bring in more immigrants we need to expand not only housing, but all services. That requires public investment, which means raising taxes, which no level of government in Canada can do in 2024 without being voted out of office.

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Those paying the slightest attention can see that the far right, white nationalists, fascists, et al, scapegoat minorities to distract, advance extremist policies and weaken democracy.

There is law in place to deal with these threats. Political will, not so much.

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Appreciate the analysis, David. The lack of dignity afforded to newcomers to Canada is gross, and it's something I see reproduced at the education level as well.

Something that I feel gets lost as part of discussions on immigration is what it means for reconciliation and decolonization. What are the moral (and legal) grounds that Canada can invite new settlement on stolen and ill-gotten land? What does that look like in a future that values a relationship with the lands and waters of Canada? Without real nation-to-nation relations, how does continuing immigration not further entrench land dispossession and the colonial state? These strike me as centrally important questions that I don't see discussed often.

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Excellent points David. In essence we - in Canada - are all immigrant descendents unless we are aboriginal. This is a richness of our country's culture, food, education, music etc. In some cities like Wpg this is celebrated by events like Folklorama and others. Yes, immigrants are also required to fill work vacancies as we, like most countries are experiencing a demographic shift. Ironically, construction and healthcare and education are rife with vacancies. And NO, our lack of affordable housing has at least 10 contributing factors and immigrants is not one of them. The long-standing neoclassical economic system is a major driver (in all countries with an affordable housing shortage) and until there is political will to change economic policy, the 'blame-game' will continue. (Some excellent 'explainers' about this as well.) There are a number of economists writing about the now 'long-term' outcomes of neoclassical economics. It hasn't 'trickled-down'. Steve Keen (UK) is a good read; Dougald Lamont (CDN) is also presenting some excellent economic points of view. Both are on SubStack.

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It would sure be nice if some significant steps were taken to address the huge gaps in screening and following up of short-term visa recipients ie. students, tourists. So, so many of these folks end up staying, or changing their story and applying for long-term consideration, then they get stacked up in the backlog and they live in limbo for years.

This problem needs decisive, clear, measurable action!

Meanwhile others blatantly take advantage of the ease at which the Canadian border into the US can be crossed - just do it away from an official port of entry where the border agents have no jurisdiction. By the time the RCMP arrives it's too late.

And the politician says, "we're going to give the RCMP more drones" and oh yeah "helicopters", and, and, and ...

Etc, etc, etc.

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Something keeps sneaking up on me, but I can’t quite figure it out.

It’s this difference between migrants (the people who have to move) and immigrants (the people who choose to move). I am supportive of the former and beginning to get very much against the latter.

I’m thinking as I type so this may ore may not make sense.

One thing that is missing from our culture is the question of our duty to place or to the land. Being an immigrant myself (Zimbabwe, 1981), I don’t have that born in a place connection to a land that I hear other people talk about. I have never really felt at ‘home’, although I get a sense of it from time to time. As well, I have moved a lot trying to find that feeling. What I would have liked to have known 40 years ago, is that we have a duty to make that feeling. It doesn’t just magically happen. A culture that placed less emphasis on self actualization and more emphasis on community actualization would have ways to facilitate the making of communities. It would have made that work more apparent.

In the last 40 years, the world has almost doubled, we have run out of places to grow into. The planetary boundaries have long been left behind. I think if we allow too many people to choose to move to better places, we run the risk of hollowing out communities as the people with the means to leave them go and the people without are forced to stay and take up the slack. I can see negative cycles of the loss of skill and knowledge lead to areas of abandonment, the loss of institutions, the loss mutual support.

As crisis follows crisis, the next few decades will be pushing a lot of people around the globe. It might be time to shut down our immigration and open up our space for migrants.

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That is incredibly thoughtful and fresh perspective.

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