As we across Canada increasingly ask questions about the connections between immigration and the housing crisis, it was quite astonishing when Justin Trudeau mentioned at a press conference on Wednesday that this crisis was simply part of the deal.
Apparently Justin Trudeau doesn’t master a simple concept like supply and demand. So if you stimulate demand on strong steroids by welcoming more than a million new arrivals per year, it is impossible for the supply of housing and services (schools, health and others) to keep up. To achieve this, something like a Marshall Plan would be needed.
However, we must ask ourselves why liberals continue to cling to the belief that immigration is an economic magic potion that solves all problems in itself.
It’s a bit like this idea pushed by right-wing economists who want tax cuts given to the rich to benefit the poor through the magic of what we call “trickle-down,” a thesis supported by the facts is invalidated. Here the drain is demographic and is similar to that famous phrase from the famous film Field of Dreams, but in reverse: “Let them come and they will build.” Welcome them in large numbers and all of Canada’s problems, starting with the labor shortage, will magically disappear solved. You don’t even need planning.
Real goals
What is actually the goal behind this crazy immigration that is making Canada the world leader in accepting new arrivals per capita? Is this the legendary Canadian generosity that the Prime Minister likes to dress in, who in 2017 wanted to welcome all the misery from all over the world in the face of Donald Trump, who was perceived as anti-immigrant? Or is it rather an ambitious growth plan, entirely in the spirit of the country’s big capitalists and perfectly embodied by the McKinsey Cabinet’s “Initiative of the Century” project? Goal: 100 million Canadians by 2100. Let me try a short answer.
When asked about immigration to Canada, almost all representatives of the country’s employers unanimously answer with the words that have become biblical words: “It is necessary because workers are needed.” I will fill in the missing part for them: “It is necessary because of labor needs and because growth must be supported at all costs.” Isn’t growth the essence of capitalism? More and more, bigger and, in Mckinsey’s eyes, more and more numerous. Exactly the kind of logic that is currently leading us to the edge of the abyss.
The climate crisis, the catastrophic effects of which we have experienced this year, but also phenomena such as desertification, species extinction and even the increasing use of tax havens or planned obsolescence have all arisen from this philosophy of growth at all costs. Prices and overconsumption that form the basis of our economy. Most environmentalists, on the other hand, teach us that we should adopt the opposite philosophy: reduce waste, be economical, be much more efficient.
Environmental crisis
We should remember here that Canada has been one of the worst productive countries in the West for decades. Obviously, it is easier to bring in “cheap labor” from outside than to invest in better work organization. Better training of the people we already have on Canadian soil, encouraging older people to stay in the labor market as long as possible, promoting the automation of assembly lines (it is not yet complete…), demonstrating innovations that are more difficult , as the doors open to the whole country.
I hear the voices calling for more immigrants to fix climate injustice. If you want to help countries facing environmental crisis, do the opposite of the Canadian government. First, respect your word and make sure you meet your carbon emissions targets, and above all, stop supporting the big polluters (oil, mining and other inveterate resource wasters). The impact of climate change on vulnerable populations may therefore be more limited. Next, international aid must be significantly increased in proportion to the damage caused to victims of climate change.
Overall, what we need is to turn the tide and abandon the idea of “never too big” in favor of “small is beautiful”. There is a fabulous expression in French that sums it all up: voluntary simplicity.
Furthermore, the fight against climate change requires controlled immigration, not a debilitating desire to become some kind of Nordic superpower. In short: let’s do better with less. Not with more and more…
Photo provided by Marc Tremblay
Marc Tremblay, Degree in political science and retired from the communications industry
