Recently the Federal government announced that they were reducing immigration levels. Upon further examination the reduction is essentially to the historical mean.
Nothing really out of the ordinary right?
Not according to our media. Of course, they indicated that this is a reversal or a pivot away from recklessly high immigration levels and the result of political pressure on the Liberals and a change in attitudes of Canadians towards immigration.
What a load of crap.
Immigration levels in this country are not pulled from the ass of any government. They are arrived at after extensive consultations by the government with the provinces, the business community, demographers and other stakeholders. They are designed to allow Canada's population growth to be sufficient to allow younger Canadians to replace retiring Canadians in the job market. This is because the Canadian fertility rate is way below replacement level so if we did not bring in immigrants our population and the pool of people looking for work would decrease, leading to all sorts of negative economic outcomes for the country, including lower profits and falling stock markets.
As well, remember that immigrants are not refugees or asylum seekers. Canadian immigration official look for people with specific skills from those seeking to enter Canada. If they want to come to Canada they have to prove they are able to work here and get a job very soon after they arrive.
The reason why there was a spike in immigration levels in the last three years is all because of the pandemic. After the worst of the pandemic was over everything spiked; aggregate demand, prices, wages and other economic indicators. What also spiked was the demand for labour. Many of you with decent memories probably remember all of the stories about a labour shortage immediately after the worst of the pandemic was over. The government responded by increasing immigration levels.
Well, although COVID is still stalking the land, the pandemic is over and everything is returning to what it was pre-COVID. We are seeing it with inflation and we are now seeing it with unemployment. The labour shortage of three years ago has abated so immigration levels do not need to be so high. Thus, we see their return to the historical mean.
By the way, these immigration levels are very similar to the ones the Harper government had during its tenure and that is why, if you are hoping another Conservative government will further reduce immigrations levels, you are in for a big disappointment. Simply put, big business will not let them.
The government continues to do what it is supposed to; govern. And governing means looking at the current situation and adjusting policies to address any issues. That's the job and this government is just getting on with doing it.
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