Canada faces an immigration crisis. The Liberal government's reckless policies have pushed our systems to the breaking point. Housing costs have skyrocketed. Hospitals and schools are overcrowded. Wages have stagnated. Yet the government continues to bring in record numbers of newcomers with no plan to integrate them into Canadian society.Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner is right to target birthright citizenship. But we must go further. We need a full moratorium on all immigration except for high-skilled workers filling jobs Canadians cannot do. This is not radical. It is common sense.Canada currently grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on Canadian soil. This happens regardless of whether the parents are citizens, temporary residents, or even undocumented migrants. The exceptions are few. Only children of foreign diplomats miss out..ALBERS: Government does not create value.This policy has been abused. "Birth tourism" has exploded under the Liberals. Reports show a nearly 600% increase since the Harper government left office. Foreign nationals deliberately travel here to give birth. They secure Canadian citizenship for their children without having any real connection to our country.Most developed nations have already fixed this problem. The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand require at least one parent to be a citizen or permanent resident for a child to gain citizenship by birth. Canada remains an outlier. We are being taken advantage of.The Conservatives proposal to end this exploitation was a good first step. But it did not go far enough. The Liberals and Bloc Québécois defeated it. They prefer a "post-national" vision where Canadian citizenship has no special meaning.On Wednesday, Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser said, “I believe that we should maintain birthright citizenship in Canada, and I don’t know if I can be any more direct than that." Clearly telegraphing that the Liberals want continued uncontrolled immigration into Canada. .Birthright citizenship is just one symptom of a broken system. The real problem is the staggering number of people coming to Canada.The Liberals set targets to bring in 500,000 permanent residents annually. This does not include the explosion in temporary residents. Nearly 1 million international students and millions of temporary foreign workers now live in Canada. We don’t even know how many temporary foreign workers are in Canada because the government does not track if they leave after the visa expires. The total number of non-permanent residents has exceeded new permanent immigrant admissions.What happens when you bring in this many people? Systems collapse..MacKINNON: Mark Carney’s White House prestazione.Nearly 60% of Canadians now say the country accepts too many newcomers. This is the first time since 2000 that most respondents felt this way. People see the consequences every day. They cannot find family doctors. They cannot afford apartments. Their children face crowded classrooms.The government finally acknowledged the problem. In 2024, it lowered permanent resident targets and announced plans to reduce temporary residents. This is too little, too late. The damage has been done.Some will call a moratorium extreme. They are wrong. A temporary pause on most immigration would give Canada breathing room. We could fix our infrastructure. We could build more housing. We could ensure new Canadians can be properly supported..We should follow the evidence. A 2024 poll found that a majority of Canadians believe immigration levels are too high. These are not radicals. They are ordinary people seeing their quality of life decline.A moratorium does not mean ending immigration forever. It means stopping the bleeding so we can heal the patient.Even during a moratorium, we should welcome some immigrants. High-skilled workers who fill critical jobs should still come. These are the people who build our economy. They do not strain our social systems..OLDCORN: Moe's China EV tariff flip flop betrays Saskatchewan producers.The Federal Skilled Worker Program already exists for this purpose. It uses a points system to select immigrants. Applicants earn points for education, language skills, work experience, and age. This system ensures we get the best and brightest.These immigrants tend to find jobs quickly. They earn good wages. They contribute more in taxes than they use in services. They are the kind of newcomers we need.Under this proposal, only applicants who qualify under this program would be admitted during the moratorium. We would also prioritize those with arranged employment in genuine shortage occupations. This is the smart approach to immigration..Canada is at a crossroads. We can continue down the Liberal path of uncontrolled immigration. We can watch our standard of living decline further. Or we can choose a better way.We must demand bold action from our politicians. Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives must offer more than minor tweaks. They must promise a fundamental restructuring of our immigration system..EYRE: Beware the ‘nation-building’ boosters: Why governments shouldn’t pick winners and losers.This approach involves implementing a complete moratorium on all non-essential immigration while maintaining a narrow exception for high-skilled economic immigrants. During this pause, efforts will be focused on addressing the housing and infrastructure deficit. Additionally, permanent reforms will be made to prevent future abuse.Canadians are a generous people. We know immigration built our country. But we also know that unlimited immigration threatens our future. We must put Canada and Canadian citizens first.The time for half-measures is over. We need a moratorium now. Our future depends on it.
