Can we talk about immigration?
What was so good about the old Canadian immigration system? It was a marriage
of generosity and self-interest. It was about using the points system to choose
immigrants according to the skills they brought to Canada. It was about
recruiting future citizens, not minimum-wage guest workers.
And though Canada’s immigration rate in the three decades to 2015 was higher
than most developed countries, Canada also had more stringent border control
measures than most countries. We were very welcoming, and we were very
selective.
Contradictory? No, complementary. It’s why Canadians – almost unique among
Western countries – saw immigration as a net-positive. This carefully
cultivated ecosystem was the result of a multi-generational consensus among
Conservatives, Progressive Conservatives and Liberals. The Trudeau
government has flattened it with a bulldozer.