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0 pointsHDMI_Cable5y ago0 comments

There's this movement in Canadian political circles that calls for us to have a population of ~100 million by 2100.[1]

Their argument is essentially that Canada has a lot of space (especially with climate change and all [2]), and by bringing in a lot of people from other countries, that will make Canada a more competitive country on the world stage.

In my personal opinion, I don't have anything against the movement, its just that all of these people are coming to either Toronto or Vancouver, and so those cities are becoming more and more competitive, meanwhile more conservative regions like Alberta and Quebec have a labour shortage.

Also, this might have a weird effect on French (I'm a french speaker so I might be a bit biased), but a lot of the people that are coming in right now (mainly from Eastern Europe, India, & China) only speak English, and not French. So we're seeing French go the same way as Scots or Gaelic did in the UK -- slowly dying.

Overall though, as long as we ensure that the population is distributed (I guess high housing prices are a good thing), and that people learn French, the 100 million thing isn't too bad.

--- [1] - https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/canada-needs-to-get-to-100-milli...

[2] - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Ko... - Note right now, Only Toronto - Windsor has that light blue climate (same weather as New England), and in 2100 most of Canada will, while southern Ontario and BC will have the same weather as Washington or Normandy.

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slothtrop5y ago

We're certainly not building fast enough if that's the plan in earnest. Exceeding a certain rate of immigration also suppresses wages, according to this - https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-001-x/89-001-x2007001... . That is a ticking time bomb for public discontent as we'll simultaneously be dealing with increasing automation.

In theory, it could be done well, but it won't. All these other factors will be ignored which is just going to lead to a long wave of Conservative government in the future.

HDMI_CableOP5y ago

I don't think the 100 million figure is exact, its more of ambitious target that we'll try to get to, but ultimately won't affect much if we're ~20 million short or something.

or sure wages are lower because of it. But I don't think there'll be much discontent just because immigration is not as heated an issue in the US, and we have more room to grow (especially on the infrastructure side).

However, we do have to consider that immigration does allow for businesses to grow faster, because our main bottleneck -- population, becomes less of a concern. Automation is a big concern in this regard, but we can just kick that can down the road.

sershe5y ago

Doesn't Canada have special immigration programs for specific provinces that are better/offer faster path to citizenship/etc. to try to solve this problem? I am pretty sure I remember Quebec had one that was better than BC (I used to be an immigrant in BC).

jbarham5y ago

You're probably thinking of the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (https://www.immigration.ca/quebec-immigrant-investor-program). In theory applicants should "intend to settle in the province of Quebec", in practice most of them end up in Vancouver or Toronto.

gabbo5y ago

Beyond the QIIP, there are a whole host of provincial nominee programs where provinces can set their own criteria that are different from the federal government: https://moving2canada.com/provincial-nominee-program-pnp/

HDMI_CableOP5y ago

I think its done on a federal level, its just that they make it easier to immigrate to some regions (like Quebec) vs other regions (like BC).

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slothtrop5y ago

In theory, it could be done well, but it won't. All these other factors will be ignored which is just going to lead to a long wave of Conservative government in the future.

HDMI_CableOP5y ago

I don't think the 100 million figure is exact, its more of ambitious target that we'll try to get to, but ultimately won't affect much if we're ~20 million short or something.

sershe5y ago

jbarham5y ago

gabbo5y ago

HDMI_CableOP5y ago

I think its done on a federal level, its just that they make it easier to immigrate to some regions (like Quebec) vs other regions (like BC).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse