Prime Minister Carney has recently introduced a plan to bring in thousands of aging people from India.He doesn’t explain why such a program could possibly be in the best interests of Canadians — why Canada would possibly want more elderly, retired people who will put even more stress on the medical system, social services and housing. No disrespect to India, or to those retirees, but we have plenty of elderly, retired people, and don’t need to import more.Carney’s strange immigration decision doesn’t bode well for those hoping that a Carney immigration policy will be an improvement over that of his predecessor — a policy that allowed far too many in, too fast, and overstretched every system..Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre is saying what most Canadians want to hear — namely that Canada has been taking in too many immigrants, and we need to put on the brakes. Here’s what he said:“We need to ensure that more leave than come in over the next couple of years, while we catch up, while housing, health care and jobs can catch up,” Poilievre said. “We've had population growth of roughly a million a year under the Liberals, while we barely build 200,000 homes, our job market is stalled, and yet we are adding more people to the workforce.”This is just common sense. Canada’s housing market, health, education and all other services have been swamped by the millions of immigrants who have been allowed to enter Canada since Trudeau came to power in 2015. But since Carney took over, these numbers have continued to climb, despite claims to the contrary..So Poilievre is now stating the obvious, and most Canadians agree with him. Poilievre’s statement is a direct repudiation of the immigration policy that Trudeau brought with him when he came to power in 2015. Trudeau believed that Canada is a “post-national” state, and simply doesn’t need the controlled immigration policies that had been very successfully employed in this country since 1867. Simply put, a “post-national state” isn’t a nation, and doesn’t need borders.But it was under those pre-Trudeau immigration policies that Canada became a successful nation. And those policies clearly recognized the fact that a country must defend its borders in order to survive and prosper. A strong national consensus had developed around immigration pre-Trudeau. Canada recognized itself as a nation of immigrants, and welcomed controlled numbers of new Canadians who accepted our values, and could contribute to our economy. That policy is what built the Canada we know..In one fell swoop, Trudeau destroyed that consensus. In a public demonstration of how morally superior he was to the incoming President Donald Trump, Trudeau sent out his famous 2017 tweet welcoming anyone, anywhere who wanted to come to Canada — no questions asked.And they came. They came from everywhere, and simply walked into Canada at Roxham Road, and other entry points. These were unvetted people. How many had criminal records, how many had work skills, spoke English or French, or were terrorists, we had no idea. They were simply allowed to jump the queue in front of the thousands of applicants who had waited patiently in refugee camps in dangerous countries while their carefully prepared applications to enter Canada accumulated dust.And this was just the beginning. Millions of “students” (only some of whom were students) and “temporary workers” (only some of whom were temporary) also came under Trudeau’s open door policy..The result is that roughly a million people have been added to Canada’s population every year since 2015 — severely overburdening services, and making home ownership virtually impossible for most young Canadians. These numbers are unsustainable.This isn’t a rant about “immigrants.” As mentioned, Canada is a nation of immigrants. From the first Siberians who walked across the land bridge, through French, English, Ukrainian, Asians and others who came first by canoe, ship, and then by airplane Canada became their home, and our neighbours. That’s what this country is, and that’s what most Canadians want. So, the strong consensus that existed in Canada before 2015 that welcomed controlled and vetted numbers of new productive citizens is just fine by me.However, the results of Trudeau’s destruction of the immigration consensus are not good. We already increasingly see intemperate online comments about “immigrants.” And we watch on our screens “international students” who should not be here openly chanting antisemitic and other repugnant anti-western slogans. We also see ethnic ghettos developing in our major cities. We need only to look to Britain and Europe to see where this leads.Because Trudeau’s “no borders/post-national state” views weren’t his own invention. He adopted the progressive globalist immigration model that was fashionable in Western Europe in 2015. That was the year, for example, that Angela Merkel allowed a million, mainly single, military age males, to immigrate to Germany. European neighbours, like Sweden did the same. Those progressive globalists, who came up with that mass immigration model are the same folks who tell us that we must de-industrialize to achieve net zero, and that men can become women. They will also insist on telling you that if you don’t agree with their naive views about immigration that makes you “far right,” or even racist..The results of mass immigration have been disastrous for Western Europe. Many of those countries now face demands for Sharia law, and rampant antisemitism goes unchecked, while their police forces have virtually lost control over entire sections of Europe’s formerly orderly city streets.That’s the immigration model that Trudeau brought with him in 2015, and that’s the same model that Carney appears to still be following.But there’s a brand new immigration model in the picture now — and it looks very much like our successful pre-2015 model. And the man who introduced it is none other than Donald Trump. Most Canadians automatically reject anything that Trump does. But on immigration, we should pay attention. Because Trump is smashing the progressive globalist immigration model to bits.And it’s working.Anyone who follows American news will know that under the previous Biden regime, millions of economic migrants and other opportunists were allowed to walk across America’s southern border unchecked. The number of illegal entrants in America might be as high as 20 million. The Biden administration — like the Trudeau administration — had that strange progressive globalist belief that anyone who arrived at the border must be allowed to enter and stay.And enter they did. Billions of government dollars have been spent to house these people and provide them with social and medical services, stretching services to the limit. Rent and housing costs in many of the major American cities are through the roof. Significant numbers of those who entered are gang members, dangerous criminals, and terrorists, who have caused incalculable damage, and endangered the country..Trump has reversed that immigration madness almost overnight. Instead of millions of people streaming across their southern border, the number has decreased to a few. The billions of dollars that were spent on services for illegal aliens under the Biden regime has been drastically cut, and tens of thousands of dangerous gang members and people with serious criminal records have been deported. Importantly, the flow of potential terrorists has slowed to a trickle.The point is that Trump has found a way to reverse the Biden immigration debacle. And he has introduced another immigration model — a common sense model that is the direct opposite of the progressive globalist model adopted by his predecessor. His model recognizes that a nation must have borders, and must defend those borders. It also recognizes that a nation must carefully control who is allowed to enter the country.It remains to be seen what immigration will look like under a Carney government. Although what we have seen so far is not promising, Carney talks a good game about being willing to pivot from the disastrous policies of his predecessor. Perhaps he can do so on immigration. He could never admit to borrowing ideas from Donald Trump, but he now has that immigration model playing out before his eyes. Perhaps he can craft a softer, and more polite Canadian version.Because we have to solve our uncontrolled immigration problem, or the Canada we leave to our children will be a pale imitation of the Canada we knew when we were their age.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
