So, the prime minister has got religion at last on immigration? Is it finally alright to say things have gone too far, too fast and are not working well and not fear being called a racist?For years, not months, Canadians who can’t afford a place to live have been shouting that it’s nothing but foolishness to ramp up immigration without a companion plan to build more homes. The one requires the other. Otherwise, up go rents and the cost of real estate. Some people, living on the edge of financial viability to begin with, end up living in a tent. It's simple economics and it’s now a country-wide problem.By the way, it’s also a problem of conflicting policy goals. If the consuming national moral objective is to reduce this country’s annual emission of 548 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it makes no sense to make it that much harder by bringing in half a million people every year. Every man-jack of them and their wives will be responsible for a personal, annual 16 tonne carbon footprint. That’s another 8 million tonnes a year in reductions we have to find to reach net zero. For every year’s cohort of 500,000 people. Every year.But that is a thought for another day. So is the related issue of how ramping up immigration saves the Trudeau Liberals from having to confront the country’s falling GDP, that is the consequence of their pixie-dust economic understanding and the prime minister’s discomfort with monetary policy.What makes the prime minister saying now that the situation needs to be brought under control significant are two things.First, for years, it’s been as obvious as his odd socks. But a quick review of published comment suggests that nobody was very comfortable pointing out such obvious things, in case they were labelled racist, see above. This is why it’s gone unchallenged for so long.Second, it is also a sadly pathetic acknowledgement that Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre is riding a strong horse, when he talks to young people trying to enter the market about the Liberal policy failures that make it so difficult for them to buy, or even rent.Sad, because it’s Trudeau’s admission that Poilievre is right and that his own policies are the problem. Hard to look like a clear-eyed policy hawk when you’re copying other people’s ideas.Pathetic, because as reported in the Western Standard, he was actually warned in precise terms two years ago, by his own Cabinet Secretary Janice Charette. She wrote in a 'note' delivered to him personally that since 2015 his own immigration policies were the cause of Canada’s housing affordability crisis: “There is broad agreement among experts that homebuilding has been insufficient in comparison with housing demand in recent years, particularly with the increase in immigration since 2015.” His response then was to deny and deflect. He announced that instead he would ramp up immigration and in one of his irritating signature cliches, blamed the provinces for not “stepping up” to fix the housing problem. Today, his response is to blame students and young people, "temporary foreign workers or international students," the people who come here for a while, work hard and can then be sent home. Core permanent immigration, at 500,000 a year is to continue.Don't want to sound racist Mr. Prime Minister, but why pick on the 'weaker' part of the problem, the young, the adventurous, the students? Why not just cut permanent immigration way back until the housing stock has caught up?Or is that too likely to cost you votes in the immigrant community?Just asking. But it does seem like a logical step in the right direction.
So, the prime minister has got religion at last on immigration? Is it finally alright to say things have gone too far, too fast and are not working well and not fear being called a racist?For years, not months, Canadians who can’t afford a place to live have been shouting that it’s nothing but foolishness to ramp up immigration without a companion plan to build more homes. The one requires the other. Otherwise, up go rents and the cost of real estate. Some people, living on the edge of financial viability to begin with, end up living in a tent. It's simple economics and it’s now a country-wide problem.By the way, it’s also a problem of conflicting policy goals. If the consuming national moral objective is to reduce this country’s annual emission of 548 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it makes no sense to make it that much harder by bringing in half a million people every year. Every man-jack of them and their wives will be responsible for a personal, annual 16 tonne carbon footprint. That’s another 8 million tonnes a year in reductions we have to find to reach net zero. For every year’s cohort of 500,000 people. Every year.But that is a thought for another day. So is the related issue of how ramping up immigration saves the Trudeau Liberals from having to confront the country’s falling GDP, that is the consequence of their pixie-dust economic understanding and the prime minister’s discomfort with monetary policy.What makes the prime minister saying now that the situation needs to be brought under control significant are two things.First, for years, it’s been as obvious as his odd socks. But a quick review of published comment suggests that nobody was very comfortable pointing out such obvious things, in case they were labelled racist, see above. This is why it’s gone unchallenged for so long.Second, it is also a sadly pathetic acknowledgement that Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre is riding a strong horse, when he talks to young people trying to enter the market about the Liberal policy failures that make it so difficult for them to buy, or even rent.Sad, because it’s Trudeau’s admission that Poilievre is right and that his own policies are the problem. Hard to look like a clear-eyed policy hawk when you’re copying other people’s ideas.Pathetic, because as reported in the Western Standard, he was actually warned in precise terms two years ago, by his own Cabinet Secretary Janice Charette. She wrote in a 'note' delivered to him personally that since 2015 his own immigration policies were the cause of Canada’s housing affordability crisis: “There is broad agreement among experts that homebuilding has been insufficient in comparison with housing demand in recent years, particularly with the increase in immigration since 2015.” His response then was to deny and deflect. He announced that instead he would ramp up immigration and in one of his irritating signature cliches, blamed the provinces for not “stepping up” to fix the housing problem. Today, his response is to blame students and young people, "temporary foreign workers or international students," the people who come here for a while, work hard and can then be sent home. Core permanent immigration, at 500,000 a year is to continue.Don't want to sound racist Mr. Prime Minister, but why pick on the 'weaker' part of the problem, the young, the adventurous, the students? Why not just cut permanent immigration way back until the housing stock has caught up?Or is that too likely to cost you votes in the immigrant community?Just asking. But it does seem like a logical step in the right direction.
