Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

vancouversun.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 63 posts

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#21

Post by flukus »

jacquesm wrote: post #8

On paper Canada is near perfect. But in practice it is a country that is suffering so much from having to maintain continent size infrastructure on the tax base that would match a very small European country that the only way they are going to solve this long term without reducing the size of their territory or falling apart is to import very large numbers of people and hope to integrate them. So far they are quite s…

> on the tax base that would match a very small European country

What are you counting as very small? They have 3-4 times the population of the like of Denmark, Belgium and Portugal. They're comparable with Spain and Poland, which few people would consider very small European countries.

> country that is suffering so much from having to maintain continent size infrastructure

This brings some challenges, but infrastructure doesn't scale 1:1 with the land area of a country, 99% of the infrastructure can be on 1% of the land area and serve most people. It's the urbanization level that matters, not the geography.

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#22

Post by petre »

wisdomdata wrote: post #5
jankotek wrote: post #4

> resettling more refugees than any other country in the world > Since 2017, approximately 150,000 asylum seekers have claimed protection This is pretty low number. Many countries took millions of refugees.

australia's yearly intake until recently for around a decade has been more than that.

Too bad they ship refugees off to Nauru and Papua New Guinea where they live in "processing centres".

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia...

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#23

Post by Zarath »

sorenstoutner wrote: post #3

I think history has shown many times that generally open societies are good for both the economy and for future strength of the country. It is nice to see a well reasoned analysis of specific applications in Canada.

What are some examples you'd give? Not trying to refute you, I just can't think of any off the top of my head.

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#24

Post by aledalgrande »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
aledalgrande wrote: post #6

As an immigrant in Canada (normal process, not refugee) I can say the process is fair, especially compared to other countries (see neighbor). The requirement on language makes sense and also the minimum amount of savings and no dangerous disease. Basically you are set to successfully start out. Just talking about my experience, but after living in other 3 countries, the openness of Canadians to immigrants and the cul…

Are you in one of the major cities?

Vancouver

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#25

Post by cal5k »

jacquesm wrote: post #8

On paper Canada is near perfect. But in practice it is a country that is suffering so much from having to maintain continent size infrastructure on the tax base that would match a very small European country that the only way they are going to solve this long term without reducing the size of their territory or falling apart is to import very large numbers of people and hope to integrate them. So far they are quite s…

That's a popular misconception, but flatly wrong. Canada has the 10th largest GDP in the world. It's larger than Russia's and just shy of Brazil, a country with 209M people vs. 37MM in Canada.

The vast majority of the country is within 100km of the US border, and frankly we've massively under-invested in critical infrastructure like high-speed rail. Our telecoms routinely claim that prices are the highest in the world because of the sparseness of the country, and yet our telecoms are the most profitable in the world. Same for our banks.

No, Canada's real problem is its lack of self-confidence... we still coddle our banks and telecoms, regulating to protect them against foreign competition while failing to enforce competition laws that would prevent anti-competitive behaviour within the country. We seem to be afraid of competing globally on a level playing field even though this would make us better.

It's a very frustrating place to be an entrepreneur, particularly if you have anything remotely resembling a libertarian bent.

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#26

Post by soperj »

jacquesm wrote: post #8

On paper Canada is near perfect. But in practice it is a country that is suffering so much from having to maintain continent size infrastructure on the tax base that would match a very small European country that the only way they are going to solve this long term without reducing the size of their territory or falling apart is to import very large numbers of people and hope to integrate them. So far they are quite s…

I live in Victoria BC. Tons of immigrants, most are ESL, no issues. Definitely not one of Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton. Where are the issues exactly? Because I've lived in quite a few places here and don't know what you're talking about.

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#27

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

aledalgrande wrote: post #24
jacquesm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you in one of the major cities?

Vancouver

I feel most American big cities are very welcoming to immigrants too, but much less so in rural areas... Do you still feel welcomed in rural areas in Canada?

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#28

Post by luckylion »

jankotek wrote: post #4

> resettling more refugees than any other country in the world > Since 2017, approximately 150,000 asylum seekers have claimed protection This is pretty low number. Many countries took millions of refugees.

I believe resettling is important here. Canada has little to none asylum seekers that cross the border and request asylum. Canada resettles asylum seekers that have been referred by organizations like the UN, were vetted and selected along a handful criteria (like wealth, education, language skills etc).

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#29

Post by flukus »

nutjob2 wrote: post #10

Certain people are always pushing fears about immigrants but the actual experience of big immigrant nations like Australia (30% foreign born) and Canada (25%) show that immigration, including large influxes of refugees, doesn't cause social or economic problems.

You can't buy a quarter acre block in a major city working a low skilled, low wage single income anymore. That's a social and economic problem.

Stagnant wage growth in part driven by our immigration system is an economic and social problem.

The underclass of workers on student visas being payed below minimum wage to work at 711 or deliver uber eats is a growing social and economic problem.

Australia should serve as a warning.

Re: An open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

#30

Post by aledalgrande »

avocado4 wrote: post #14
aledalgrande wrote: post #6

As an immigrant in Canada (normal process, not refugee) I can say the process is fair, especially compared to other countries (see neighbor). The requirement on language makes sense and also the minimum amount of savings and no dangerous disease. Basically you are set to successfully start out. Just talking about my experience, but after living in other 3 countries, the openness of Canadians to immigrants and the cul…

Sadly Canadian points-based system is a non starter with Democrats and some nativist Republicans in the US.

You just have to hope that the new generation is better...
Post reply on HN