New immigration minister says Trump presidency could prompt best and brightest to choose Canada 

2025/03/22 Leave a comment

Of note (HESA also made a similar pitch):

The new Immigration Minister Rachel Bendayan thinks the Trump presidency is creating an “incredible opportunity” for Canada to attract the best and brightest from around the world – including talented people currently living in the United States.

In her first interview since being appointed to the portfolio in the cabinet shuffle last week, Ms. Bendayan said she had already discussed with fellow ministers the prospect of successful and highly educated people wanting to live here instead of the U.S.

“What I’m hearing is that people are thinking more and more about Canada, whether it’s in the United States, and Americans thinking about making the trip north, or quite frankly right around the world,” she said. “I think we could attract some of the best minds around the world, just as the United States once did. I think there’s an incredible opportunity to attract the best and the brightest, including from the United States to Canada.”

Donald Trump has criticized Canada’s immigration policies, implying they are lax, an accusation that Ms. Bendayan said is ”very far from the truth.”

She said Canada has “a robust immigration system” and “we take security very seriously.”

She said there is already a lot of co-operation and information sharing with the U.S. “in order to make sure that North America is a secure environment” and that is increasing.

But Ms. Bendayan said she wanted to make further reductions to the number of migrants living in Canada – including temporary migrants.

Last November, the government sharply tightened migration targets as part of its annual immigration levels plan. Ms. Bendayan said she wanted to maintain a downward trend for both permanent and non-permanent residents.

She said figures released this week showing a big reduction in the number of temporary residents are “important and certainly trending in the right direction.”

“But that number still needs to continue to come down,” she said….

Source: New immigration minister says Trump presidency could prompt best and brightest to choose Canada

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Federal panel lists 35 ‘plausible’ future threats to Canada and the world

2024/05/22 Leave a comment

Of interest and not necessarily encouraging. Some have noted absence of possible regional or global war (given that at least two significant ones ongoing at present):

In a new report, a think-tank within Employment and Social Development Canada cites 35 “plausible” global disruptions that could reshape Canada and the world in the near future.

The Policy Horizons Canada (PHC) panel drafted the list and then asked more than 500 stakeholders within and outside government to suggest which ones were more likely, when they might happen and how one might trigger others.

The authors of the report point out that the list is an exploration of theoretical — not guaranteed — threats. They say that even “seemingly distant or improbable” calamities can become reality and thinking about them helps governments create “robust and resilient policies.”

Leading the report’s top ten list — those threats that could have the greatest impacts and are most likely to happen — is the threat to truth.

PHC’s report says that in as little as three years, the world’s “information ecosystem” could be flooded with misinformation and disinformation created by both people and artificial intelligence (AI).

It warns that algorithms designed to engage audiences emotionally rather than factually could “increase distrust and social fragmentation,” isolating people in “separate realities shaped by their personal media …”

“Public decision making could be compromised as institutions struggle to effectively communicate key messaging on education, public health, research and government information,” the report says.

The second and third threats on the top ten list are environmental: ecosystem collapse due to loss of biodiversity and extreme weather events overwhelming our ability to respond.

In five to six years, the report says, a collapse in biodiversity “could have cascading impacts on all living things, putting basic human needs such as clean air, water and food in jeopardy.”

It says that impacts on key industries like farming, fishing and logging could lead to “major economic loss,” leaving people unable to “meet their basic needs.”

The report warns the increasing frequency of wildfires, floods and severe storms could destroy property and infrastructure, displacing millions of people and worsening the mental health crisis.

AI could run wild

In as little as four to five years, cyber attacks could disable critical infrastructure and billionaires could use their influence to run the world, the PHC warns.

The report says that cyber attacks on critical infrastructure could leave governments struggling to deliver services and compromise access to essential goods.

And in five years, the report says, the super-rich could use their influence to shape public policy and impose their values and beliefs on the world, “bypassing democratic governance principles.”

“As their power grows, billionaires could gain warfare capabilities and control over natural resources and strategic assets,” the report says. “Some might co-opt national foreign policy or take unilateral diplomatic or military action, destabilizing international relations.”…

Source: Federal panel lists 35 ‘plausible’ future threats to Canada and the world

Filed under Other Tagged with ,