Trudeau botched immigration surge, Canada's top bank economists say
Canada’s current immigration policy — among the most open in the world — is now causing economic damage and needs to be reconsidered, according to the country’s top economists.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to dramatically increase immigration — and allow a flood of temporary workers and international students — without providing proper support has created a laundry list of economic problems, including higher inflation and weak productivity, chief economists at Canada’s biggest banks said Jan. 11 during a wide-ranging panel discussion in Toronto.
“Frankly I’m surprised we screwed it up because we sit in such a privileged position in Canada,” Beata Caranci, chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, told a packed audience at an Economic Club of Canada event.
Unlike many other countries, including the United States, Canada is not dealing with poorly controlled flows of migrants across its land borders and has had time to think about the implications of its policies, Caranci said. “We designed our own policy, we put it in place, we implemented it, and we still screwed it up.”
We designed our own policy, we put it in place, we implemented it, and we still screwed it up
Canada accepted about 455,000 new permanent residents in the year to Oct. 1 while bringing in more than 800,000 non-permanent residents, a category that includes temporary workers, foreign students and refugees. With a population growth rate of 3.2 per cent, it’s growing faster than any Group of Seven nation, China or India.
While there are annual targets for permanent residents, there is no cap on international-student permits and the government has made it easier for employers to hire temporary foreign workers.
“I’ll put it bluntly: We’ve fallen
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