Immigrants are always beneficial

It is argued that immigrants are net burden on the economy and social infrastructure and it is also argued that due to the immigrants, wages of Canadian workers are pushed down and they add to unemployment, poverty and crime. Further, an article also asserted that the only reason why the political parties push for high immigration intake is that they see every new immigrant as an increased voter for their party.

But the fact is that none of the observations are correct. First of all, there is no evidence in Canada that suggests that immigrants push down wages of Canadian workers. And far from burdening the Canadian economy and social infrastructure, immigration are essential to our economic prosperity and communal vitality.

In 2006, 55 percent of the principal applicant immigrants were admitted into Canada under the economic class of immigration. And these immigrants brought much needed skills, capital, and entrepreneurial spirit that in every sense has only benefited the Canadian economy and social infrastructure.

In the coming years, greater number of immigrants will be admitted into Canada. The “baby boom” generation that entered the workforce during 1960 to 1980, is now starting to retire and these workers cannot be completely replaced by the recent graduates from the post-secondary and high school educational systems. The fact is that there are just not enough Canadians available to do it and we must thank the sheer size of our generation and yes, our decisions to have very small families over the past two decades. And this is the sole reason behind the prediction by Statistics Canada that by 2011, all of Canada’s net labour force will be derived from immigration and by 2030, immigration will be the only source of population growth in Canada.

When it comes to immigrants who have recently arrived in Canada, it is shocking to know that more than half of then live in poverty. To be specific, almost one-fifth of the immigrants entering Canada during the 1990s found themselves in persistent low income for the first five years. And we need to improve these areas, not just because of the immigrants but for the betterment of our own country.

We can also do a better job in terms of selection of immigrants based on their skills, and at the same time maintaining our commitments to immigration for family reunification and humanitarian grounds. Australia has strongly moved in this direction and Canada is heading in the same direction with some recent reforms to its immigration system.