Record number of immigrants welcomed to Canada in 2010

[pampango]

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Record+number+immigrants+welcomed+Canada+2010/4274845/story.html

Canada welcomed a record number of immigrants in 2010, with more than 280,000 newcomers entering the country — the highest number in more than 50 years, the government announced Sunday.

While other Western countries cut back on immigration during the recession, our government kept legal immigration levels high. Canada’s post-recession economy demands a high level of economic immigration to keep our economy strong," he said in a statement.

The Immigration Department pointed to a recent evaluation that showed immigrants selected under the federal skilled worker program made a successful transition. "It found that skilled workers who already had a job offer when they applied for permanent residence fared best of all, earning on average $79,200 three years after arriving in Canada," Kenney’s statement read.

A high number of temporary residents came to the country, from 182,322 temporary workers and 96,147 foreign students — a significant increase from the 28,292 students who came in 2005. Kenney’s statement said that a government study showed that foreign students contribute more than $6.5 billion to Canada’s economy each year.

Canada doesn't seem to have gotten the Merkel/Cameron/Sarkozy memo that "multiculturalism has failed" and "foreigners cause fear".

Anyway, progressive and welcoming is a good combination. Keep it up, Canada.

[old mark]

1. K&R- Thanks for the post, and thanks Canada, for maintaining an escape route...at least

for the present.

mark

[Skip_In_Boulder]

2. Maintaining an escape route

That was what I was thinking although I have seen news stories over the last few years that Canada hadn't been real keen on letting Americans in except for short term. Is their policy changing?

[rfranklin]

3. You have to apply and meet certain qualifications...

Are you bringing a lot of money to Canada? Good.

Are you highly educated? Good.

Are you young enough not to be a burden on social services? Good.

They don't want charity cases.

[pampango]

5. "They don't want charity cases"-Right, for the most part. 64% are economic migrants.

36% are admitted for family unification, humanitarian and as refugees.

For the most part Canada attracts highly educated professionals and investors whom they apparently consider an asset to their society and economy. It would be interesting to see the reaction of American professionals to any attempt by the US to emulate the Canadian immigration system. My guess is that an influx of highly educated foreign professionals would not be well received.

"In Canada there are four categories of immigrants: family class- 22% in 2009 (closely related persons of Canadian residents living in Canada), Economic immigrants-64% (skilled workers and business people, Other-10% (people accepted as immigrants for humanitarian or compassionate reasons) and refugees-4% (people who are escaping persecution, torture or cruel and unusual punishment)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_immigrants
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/research-stats/facts2009.pdf

[leveymg]

6. US highly-skilled immigration down 40% from 2007 levels. System now makes it extremely difficult

for practically all advanced degree and highly-skilled professionals to immigrate to the U.S. We've signaled we don't want them, so they go somewhere else. Our loss, Canada's gain.

[pampango]

8. "Our loss, Canada's gain." Canada is more progressive in so many ways.

:)

[WatsonT]

10. I think a lot of folks would be outraged

if we started basing who we let in to the US on wealth and class.

[pampango]

13. You're probably right and with good reason. It seems like "folks" are outraged no matter who

we let into the US.

I think for some "folks" the main problem isn't whether they are rich or poor, Muslim or Christian, Hispanic or Asian, it's that all these immigrants are (by definition, I know, but stick with me here) "foreigners". If you "want your country back", who better to "want it back" from than people who probably don't share your language and culture (at least initially) or race (in many cases).

While Canada does use education and wealth as criteria for about 64% of its immigration, the other 36% are admitted regardless of education and wealth. Since Canada admits immigrants at a rate (given their population) about 2.5 times higher than the US, they probably admit more immigrants who aren't highly educated or wealthy than the US does.

[WatsonT]

15. "It seems like "folks" are outraged no matter who we let into the US. "

True. Or more specifically 'who we don't allow in'.

Canada let's in quite a few, but they have nothing at all like the illegal immigration problem we have here. At about 20 million our illegal immigrant population makes up about 1/15th of our population.

Illegal immigrants overwhelmingly tend to be poor an uneducated. So in effect we are letting in far more low skilled laborers (albeit illegally) than Canada is.

They have a nice little buffer between their border and the Mexican border that we don't.

[pampango]

16. The figure I've seen for illegal immigrants in the US is 11 million down

from 12 million a few years ago.

Immigrants represent 19.8% of the Canadian population.

http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-557/p2-eng.cfm

Immigrants (legal-24 million and illegal-11 million) are 11.8% of the US population. (Even using a figure of 20 million for illegal immigrants our total immigrant population would be 14.1%; much lower than in Canada.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_born

Who knows what kind of legal immigration system Canada would have if they had our illegal immigration problem. The good thing is that, absent that kind of illegal immigration problem, they have chosen to be very generous. They didn't have to make that choice.

[WatsonT]

17. A range is usually given

from 7 up to over 20 million.

Obviously it is difficult to find the exact number as they are unwilling to stand up and announce their presence.

And there is a significant difference between illegal and overwhelmingly uneducated manual laborers and legal professionals.


For instance: I don't suppose many Canadians would be willing to switch with us in this regards and I suspect many Americans would welcome a higher percentage of immigrants if it meant A) virtually none were coming in illegally and B) most were professionals that would do little to depress wages for working class citizens.

[pampango]

18. That would be an interesting policy dicussion. Would Americans choose a Canadian-style immigration

system, if we got effective control of illegal immigration?

I agree a trade-off of control of illegal immigration for a more generous Canadian-style legal immigration system would be a good thing. However, much of the conservative opposition comes from organization like NumbersUSA and the Federation for American Immigration Reform push reductions in all immigration - legal and illegal. They focus on the latter because it is an effective way to further their agenda.

And opposition to legal immigration doesn't just come from the right. Some view all immigrants as competition and bad for Americans; quite different from the Canadian point of view. It would be an interesting conversation.

[WatsonT]

19. I think most folks would go for it

The main problem many people have with illegals is that they drive down the wages for average working class individuals. Get rid of that and replace them with people who are not going to depress wages and much of the opposition would disappear.

Another complaint with illegals is that they absorb more in services than they put in in taxes. Wealthier people who pay their taxes would not fit this description.

We're moving away from the need for mass unskilled labor. Adding millions more unskilled laborers isn't going to help us. What we need to remain powerful and wealthy are skilled professionals. We have plenty of domestic unskilled or semi-skilled laborers to fill the remaining manual labor jobs, no need to import them.

[Shining Jack]

4. I believe that some kind of deal have been made...

It have something to do with people who would look for a way to avoid being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan.

U.S. soldiers seeking refugee status in Canada:

"American soldiers are seeking refugee status in Toronto to avoid fighting in, or being sent back to, the war in Iraq."

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20080325/war_deserter_080325/

[The Straight Story]

7. But how many were unwelcomed?

;)

[Edweird]

9. Yep. Canada welcomes doctors lawyers and engineers - but not unskilled laborers. Why?

Because they care about their citizens quality of life. If you are going to try to use Canada to push your usual anti-labor race-to-the-bottom garbage you will fail.

[pampango]

11. We may agree. The strengths of Canada's immigration system are that is generous and focused

attracting highly educated professionals, like "doctors, lawyers and engineers". The 36% who do not fall into this category of immigrants (those who benefits from family reunification, refugees and humanitarian cases) may be largely unskilled labor, but that is not clear and is only one-third of their immigrants anyway.

"One important effect of this steady influx of highly skilled immigrants is the reduction of income inequality in Canada. A steady stream of doctors and engineers into the economy reduces wages for these professions."

"The presence within Canada of people representative of many different cultures and nations has also been an important boost to Canada's international trade. Immigrants will often have expertise, linguistic skills, personal connections with their country of origin that can help forge international trade ties. Studies have found that Canada does have greater trade relations with those nations that have provided large numbers of immigrants. Canada's economy is heavily centered on international trade, which accounted for 36% of GDP in 2006."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_immigration_to_Canada

Canada has indeed created an immigration system that benefits "their citizens quality of life" by attracting highly skilled immigrants who are good for the economy and while reducing the degree of income inequality (already much, much better than that of the US) even further.

[SidDithers]

12. Canada's official poliy of multiculturalism also makes it attractive for immigration...

New Canadians are encouraged to retain their heritage and culture, rather than assimilating in the melting pot.

Sid

[tuvor]

14. CBC: Immigrant visas to drop 5 per cent

New figures indicate the federal government hopes to reduce overall immigration next year by five per cent, mainly by cutting back on family reunification visas.

Among the hardest hit by the lower immigration targets will be parents and grandparents seeking to join their children in Canada, according to numbers obtained from the Citizenship and Immigration Department through the Access to Information Act.

The figures indicate the government will issue about 11,000 family reunification visas for parents and grandparents overseas, down from more than 16,000 last year.

Richard Kurland, the Vancouver-based immigration lawyer who filed the access-to-information request, said he is surprised the government has decided to grant fewer visas to parents and grandparents, considering how the Conservatives have courted new Canadians as voters.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/02/12/canada-immigration-rates.html