ICYMI – Bricker and Ibbitson: There are divisions in every part of the country. Is Canada at the breaking point?

2025/10/29 Leave a comment

Valid critique:

…Both Conservative and Liberal governments contributed to some of the challenges facing Canada today. But it was Mr. Trudeau who oversaw the greatest policy failure of modern times, by letting the immigration system spin entirely out of control.

As with so many aspects of the Trudeau legacy, the intentions were honourable: to grow Canada’s population and secure its future through increased immigration. There were arguments for and against the decision to almost double the intake of permanent residents to 500,000 a year. But there was no excuse for letting the number of temporary foreign workers and international students skyrocket, along with the number of people seeking asylum. Suddenly there were three million non-permanent residents in Canada, competing with younger native-born workers for jobs and housing. For the first time in a quarter century, polls showed that most Canadians believed Canada brought in too many immigrants.

Public support for immigration and multiculturalism has been Canada’s great competitive advantage, creating a diverse yet peaceful society of old and new Canadians living and working together in harmony. But by flooding the country with newcomers, the Trudeau government broke the consensus in favour of high levels of immigration and undermined our unique social contract. The damage to the country’s harmony and its future prospects could be incalculable….

Source: There are divisions in every part of the country. Is Canada at the breaking point?

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Canada’s overhaul of immigration must include a dedicated program for high-skilled workers 

2025/10/27 Leave a comment

Dose of reality:

…Some business leaders are dubious that the U.S. overhaul of the H-1B visa program is creating an opportunity for Canada.

“The United States uses immigration and visa policies to strengthen its economic and work-force advantage,” said Jim Balsillie, the former chair and co-chief executive of Research In Motion, which is now known as BlackBerry.

Mr. Balsillie, speaking at The Globe and Mail’s Building Canada’s Workforce event on Wednesday afternoon, noted that Mr. Trump’s “strategic use of visas” includes the TN category for trade professionals and the O-1 tier for individuals with extraordinary abilities and achievements.

“I can make a case that the recent H-1B changes actually hurt Canada because TN and O-1 visas are more attractive for many reasons,” he said.

He argued that America’s H-1B changes could exacerbate Canada’s brain drain if the U.S. looks north to fill the gap by seeking new talent in sectors such as artificial intelligence, life sciences and quantum computing.

Here’s another hard truth. If high-skilled immigrants treat our country as a way station to the U.S., it’s our own fault.

Ottawa has known for years that preferred candidates are getting lost in the immigration queue because they are competing with international students for a limited number of permanent-resident spots, said Stephen Green, managing partner at immigration law firm Green and Spiegel LLP.

As he points out, those foreign students have a Canadian education but minimal work experience. Trouble is, our immigration system skews heavily toward younger people….

Source: Canada’s overhaul of immigration must include a dedicated program for high-skilled workers

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Century Initiative: Canada’s Growth Engine is Stalling

2025/10/23 Leave a comment

Continuing to pivot to a more realistic and comprehensive approach, rather than simplistically arguing for more immigration.

Of the 40 scorecard measures, 11 are leading or are on track, while 29 need attention or falling behind, notably among economic indicators:

Key Takeaways

Build for today—plan for 2050: With growth stalling and the median age rising, Canada needs a smart population plan that balances housing and services now while sustaining a skilled workforce, a resilient tax base, and competitiveness anchored in cross-government collaboration and real-time data.
 
Turning strengths into results: Canada’s talent and startup energy aren’t translating into growth. We lag peers on R&D, productivity, and scaling firms, eroding GDP per capita. The next five years must focus on incentives for R&D and competition, support for scale-ups, and tighter links between education/training and high-value jobs.
 
Compete to win talent: Canada can seize a global opening if immigration policy is stable, predictable, and competitive. A rules-based system that fuels workforce growth and innovation is essential to long-term fiscal resilience.
 
Affordability, competitiveness, and resilience—one agenda: Affordability isn’t just a pocketbook issue; it underpins productivity, social cohesion, and trust. A comprehensive plan on housing supply, household debt, wages, and inequality is critical to economic durability.
 
National security starts with the economy: Economic, demographic, and military security are inseparable. Meeting global commitments requires defence investment alongside modern data systems, deeper cybersecurity talent, and more diversified trade.

Source: Canada’s Growth Engine is Stalling, National Scorecard on Canada’s Growth and Prosperity

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Le microcrédit, un outil pour favoriser l’intégration des nouveaux arrivants

2025/10/23 Leave a comment

Of note:

Microcrédit Montréal, qui fête cette année ses 35 ans d’existence, accorde chaque année ce genre de prêts à une quarantaine de professionnels récemment arrivés au Québec qui désirent travailler dans leur domaine : ingénieurs, architectes, médecins, infirmières, pharmaciens, dentistes…

La somme octroyée, qui peut aller de 500 $ à 10 000 $, peut servir à payer des cours de mises à niveau, l’adhésion à un ordre professionnel, des cours de français ou tout simplement à assurer sa subsistance.

Faire reconnaître ses compétences, « c’est un parcours qui prend de l’investissement en temps et en argent, choses que ces gens-là, souvent, n’ont pas », fait observer Larissa Matveeva, directrice générale de Microcrédit Montréal.

« La plupart des gens vont remettre ça à plus tard parce que leur priorité est de nourrir la famille ou de survivre eux-mêmes s’ils arrivent ici seuls. Et puis, plus tard, souvent, ça ne se fait pas parce que la routine prend le dessus, tout simplement. »

L’organisme sans but lucratif vient faciliter ce parcours en prêtant à faible taux (4 %) à des gens à qui les banques institutionnelles ne prêteraient pas normalement, faute d’historique de crédit au pays.

« Nous, on prend le risque là où les banques ne peuvent pas en prendre », résume Mme Matveeva.

« On permet à ces personnes d’investir dans leur avenir ici, dès le départ, au bénéfice de tous : la personne gagne parce qu’elle a accès à des revenus confortables, puis la société québécoise gagne aussi, parce que cette personne va payer les impôts et va contribuer pleinement à l’économie. »…

Source: Le microcrédit, un outil pour favoriser l’intégration des nouveaux arrivants

Microcredit Montréal, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, grants this type of loans every year to about forty professionals recently arrived in Quebec who wish to work in their field: engineers, architects, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists…

The amount granted, which can range from $500 to $10,000, can be used to pay for refresher courses, membership in a professional order, French courses or simply to support your livelihood.

To have your skills recognized, “it is a path that takes investment in time and money, things that these people often do not have,” observes Larissa Matveeva, CEO of Microcredit Montreal.

“Most people will put it off because their priority is to feed the family or survive themselves if they get here alone. And then, later, often, it is not done because the routine takes over, quite simply. ”

The non-profit organization facilitates this journey by lending at low rates (4%) to people to whom institutional banks would not normally lend, for lack of credit history in the country.

“We take the risk where banks cannot take it,” summarizes Ms. Matveeva.

“We allow these people to invest in their future here, from the start, for the benefit of all: the person earns because he has access to comfortable income, then Quebec society also wins, because this person will pay taxes and will fully contribute to the economy. “…

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50-year immigration wait stuns lawyers and families, but IRCC says it’s no mistake

2025/10/21 Leave a comment

Highlights immigration policy and program management failures and the impact of people’s lives on government trying to correct for these failures:

Processing times for Canadian immigration applications have reached unprecedented lengths — up to 50 years under some permanent residency programs — stunning applicants and lawyers who say the system has become unviable.

“We were shocked,” said Olha Kushko, whose family fled Kyiv and settled in Ottawa in 2023 under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET), a special measure introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“It doesn’t have any sense. I don’t know how it’s possible, so I can’t believe it,” Kushko said.

Families who recently applied for permanent residence (PR) under Canada’s humanitarian and compassionate stream face waits of 12 to 600 months, according to the new immigration minister’s May 2025 “transition binder”.

Other economic immigration programs list similar waits: 

Up to 108 months (nine years) for the caregivers pathway.

Up to 228 months (19 years) for the agri-food stream.

Up to 420 months (35 years) for entrepreneurs under the startup visa stream. 

Lawyers say these skyrocketing processing times published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are unheard of, and some fear mass cancellation of applications if the Liberal government passes its strong borders bills, which would grant the minister sweeping new powers.

Source: 50-year immigration wait stuns lawyers and families, but IRCC says it’s no mistake

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Canada pays highly educated immigrants less money than the U.S., study finds

2025/10/20 Leave a comment

Highlighting retention issues, relative wage gaps between visible minorities and not visible minority remain a concern:

Canada is “relatively successful” at attracting highly educated immigrants, but their counterparts in the United States earn more and have access to better opportunities, a new study says.

The neighbouring countries that have been largely at odds since the Trump administration took over are not only competing when it comes to industries, like the steel and auto sectors. They are also competing for skilled and educated people, especially those in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

Researchers noted that now is the time for Canada to push for the “best and the brightest” to come to the country, as the U.S. adopts “a far less welcoming immigration policy.”

The study from the Fraser Institute published on Thursday is shedding light on how certain Canadian immigrants are not reaping as many benefits as their U.S. counterparts who “perform better in terms of both employment status and earnings.” Those two factors are compared to native-born Canadians and Americans, respectively, as benchmarks.

In Canada, highly educated immigrants earned 16 per cent less than native Canadians. In the U.S., immigrants had a higher employment rate (1.2 per cent) and higher compensation (8 per cent) than Americans born in the country.

In 2020, visible minority immigrants in Canada with a bachelor’s degree or higher earned a median of $57,200, whereas native Canadians with a bachelor’s degree earned $68,300 on average.

“The differences were even greater when focusing on cohorts with advanced degrees,” said researchers. “Specifically, the median income of visible minority immigrants with a master’s degree was $65,500. For those with an earned doctorate, it was $84,000.” Canadians born in the country with a master’s earned an average of $84,400, while those with a doctorate earned $100,000.

The wage gap was likely due to “difficulties around the recognition of foreign credentials (and perhaps non-Canadian work experience) for newcomers seeking opportunities in the Canadian labour market,” researchers noted.

In the United States, data from 2022 showed that highly educated American immigrants earned US$122,000, while those born in the U.S. in with the same qualifications earned US$113,000. Researchers said that immigrants out-earning their American counterparts could be due to their “superior performance.”…

Source: Canada pays highly educated immigrants less money than the U.S., study finds

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Focus Canada: More than half of Canadians think there is too much immigration, poll finds

2025/10/17 Leave a comment

The good news is that for most questions, the decline in support has largely bottomed out. Encouraging that concerns revolve more around immigration program mismanagement and impact on housing, healthcare etc rather than values albeit latter along with refugees and crime remain issues. Partisan differences have increased significantly, likely reflecting Conservative highlighting immigration and citizenship issues and possible influence of USA debates:

A majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration to this country, a new poll suggests, but the percentage of people who believe this has remained stable after a sharp rise over two previous years.

The poll, which was conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research in partnership with other groups, also found a widening partisan divide among respondents. Supporters of the federal Conservatives are much more likely to be critical of immigration levels compared with people who support the Liberals or New Democrats.

The survey interviewed 2,004 Canadians via telephone (landline and cellphone) between Sept. 8 and 21. The margin of error for this sample size is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey has been conducted over decades using broad questions to track Canadians’ feelings about immigration.

Fifty-six per cent of respondents said they agreed with the statement, “Overall, there is too much immigration to Canada,” while 38 per cent said they disagreed with it. …

Source: More than half of Canadians think there is too much immigration, poll finds

Survey link: Canadian public opinion about the Immigration & Refugees

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Atlantic Canada sees sharp decline in international student enrolment

2025/10/17 Leave a comment

As largely expected, as is the sharpest drop at Cape Breton University where the majority of all students were international:

International student enrolment is down sharply at universities in Atlantic Canada this year as the federal government’s cap on the number of study permits it will process takes a toll on the postsecondary sector.

International enrolment is down nearly 28 per cent at universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, according to a preliminary survey of enrolment released Wednesday by the Association of Atlantic Universities.

The AAU said in a release that the international student numbers have been “badly eroded” by federal policies that have affected the recruitment of students. 

International student tuition became an important source of funding to universities and colleges across the country over the past decade. The reduction in international students is having a financial impact at individual schools, in some cases resulting in revenue losses of millions of dollars….

Source: Atlantic Canada sees sharp decline in international student enrolment

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Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

2025/10/16 Leave a comment

“Give me your privileged, your rich, / Your huddled elite yearning to breathe free…”,

The Trump administration is considering a radical overhaul of the U.S. refugee system that would slash the program to its bare bones while giving preference to English speakers, white South Africans and Europeans who oppose migration, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

The proposals, some of which already have gone into effect, would transform a decades-old program aimed at helping the world’s most desperate people into one that conforms to Mr. Trump’s vision of immigration — which is to help mostly white people who say they are being persecuted while keeping the vast majority of other people out.

The plans were presented to the White House in April and July by officials in the State and Homeland Security Departments after President Trump directed federal agencies to study whether refugee resettlement was in the interest of the United States. Mr. Trump had suspended refugee admissions on his first day in office and solicited the proposals about how and whether the administration should continue the program.

Trump administration officials have not ruled out any of the ideas, according to people familiar with the planning, although there is no set timetable for approving or rejecting the ideas. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential plans….

Source: Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

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Picard: Does it matter where our future doctors attended high school? Doug Ford seems to think so

2025/10/15 Leave a comment

Good analysis on the substance although suspect this works politically:

…The new residency-application criterium is a whole different kettle of fish. Requiring the completion of two years of high school in the province is a ridiculous metric. Many Ontarians who did not study high school in the province still have deep and meaningful ties to Ontario and to Canada. They should not be treated as second-class citizens.

Besides, IMGs are a cornerstone of medicine in Canada. Almost one-quarter of our doctors were born elsewhere, and they are the only thing keeping the health system from collapsing entirely in rural and remote regions. It makes no sense to have immigration policies that actively invite medical professionals, only to see provinces like Ontario put up discriminatory barriers once they’ve arrived. 

Positions in medical residency, and medicine more generally, should be allocated based on merit, not postal code. Who cares where a doctor did high school? 

Mr. Ford should be ashamed. In an apparent bid to satisfy a small cadre of well-connected medical students wealthy enough to study abroad, Ontario is leaving thousands of other internationally trained physicians by the side of the road. 

Source: Does it matter where our future doctors attended high school? Doug Ford seems to think so

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