Trudeau’s Labor Policy Causes Immigration Problems

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Since taking office in 2015, the Trudeau government has made study abroad in Canada a parallel immigration system, effectively doubling the number of newcomers admitted each year, and giving the process a new name.

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Hundreds of thousands of students easily enter loosely defined “vocational colleges” where they receive nine to 12 months of business training. While studying, they can work up to 40 hours a week (Ottawa will reduce that to 24 hours a week starting Sept. 1).

They can then stay in the country on a post-graduation work permit for up to 18 months — a period the Liberals have extended for most international students at least three times; some of the original beneficiaries have been working here for five years since they last attended classes.

When you say “international students,” most people imagine international students studying engineering, chemistry, medicine, languages, and other majors at major universities, colleges, and technical schools. But the truth is that most international students are simply people who paid $7 for a visa, showed up with $10,000 in credit to cover some of their expenses (soon to be almost $21,000), and then hopped on a plane to Canada and off to college.

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That’s one reason the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says Canada has by far the highest “retention rate” for international students.

Officially, almost 40% of international students apply for permanent residence in Canada. However, because Immigration Canada does not have a good system for tracking those who remain unofficially, it is estimated that more than 70% of them stay long after completing their studies.

The government can’t provide reliable data on international students in Canada, but the current estimate is just under a million. A million people who need health care, housing and jobs.

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This number could be hundreds of thousands higher if you include people who remained in the country after their work permits expired.

In January, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a cap on the number of international students, but there is no evidence yet that such a cap exists. In the first five months of 2024, the Liberals issued 216,620 study permits, compared with 200,205 in the same period in 2023.

I am not anti-immigrant or anti-foreign student. I am, however, very pro-math. And the mathematics of the Liberal immigration policy does not work for immigrants or Canadians.

In its final year in office, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government set an immigration target of 280,000. At the time, it was the most generous per capita target in the Western world.

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Canada wasn’t the most generous country to refugees. Germany and England beat us there. But in general, our goals were based on the maximum that our economy and society could absorb.

Then the Trudeau Liberals came to power with their well-thought-out ideas for liberalizing immigration.

There is a case to be made for increasing the immigration target to 450,000, as the Liberals have done. But when you add in the international student program and the refugee determination program, which used to accept about two-thirds of applicants and now approves almost 90%, you have a level of new arrivals that is almost three times higher than it was a decade ago.

The fault does not lie with the newcomers, immigrants, refugees or students. The fault lies entirely with the Trudeau Liberals and their wildly “progressive” policies.

If the Liberals offer you a quick and easy way to move to Canada and you take it, you are not a bad person for taking it.

The Liberals are the problem because they believe they can increase Canada’s population by 3-4% a year without overloading the health care system, housing market, or jobs market.

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