Published in the Toronto Sun, 18 June 2024
Re: “Immigration policy untethered from reality” (Brian Lilley, Toronto Sun, 12 June): The number of immigrants admitted each year and insufficient employment opportunities are just two problems with Trudeau’s immigration policy. Another is that most immigrants, admitted under any federal government, generally congregate in large metropolitan areas with their fellow ex-patriots, which is understandable to a degree, but only adds to the congestion in those cities.
I’ve long advocated that, besides prioritizing those with in-demand skills, we go back to the past, in that we offer immigrants a free home/land in smaller municipalities out west. The only condition is that they must stay there for a minimum of 5 years. Hopefully in that time, they will have put down roots and won’t want to leave. Maybe they have children in school. Hopefully they have made friends and business connections. Maybe they have established a successful business and won’t want to re-locate that business to another city. That policy worked well in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, when people like my maternal great-grandparents re-located to a farm near Winthorst, Saskatchewan. It’s not the only solution, but it’s still a sensible policy.
(We need to consider all reasonable outcomes, as what is happening now isn’t working)
Sources: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/trudeaus-out-of-control-immigration-hits-canada-hard.
