Originally appeared in American Thinker on June 18, 2019
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I recently visited Toronto on a short vacation and enjoyed the city and the experience immensely. Toronto is clean, very safe and livable; the people are friendly and by all indications the city is booming. It is a civil, seemingly very well run city populated by an extremely diverse set of people. Nearly fifty percent of Toronto’s population is foreign born and the city has a distinct multicultural character. The new arrivals have contributed to a growth rate that has recently resulted in Toronto having a larger population than Chicago.
It must be said that overall Toronto is not as dynamic as New York City, however, why does the city seem to work on a civic level so much better than New York City? Both cities have high taxes, a large foreign born population and many other important things in common. However, what is the distinguishing factor that leads Toronto to seemingly work so much better on many levels as compared to my home city?
Demographics determine a country’s economic destiny.
Every country needs an adequate number of working age people to create wealth to grow their economy. The United States and Canada are both facing a future of lower economic growth due to the demographic challenges of a native population rapidly advancing in age and low birth rates. Immigration policy will play an increasingly key role in determining the economic outlooks for both countries.
Invited guests
In Canada, there is agreement that immigration policy must be a primary driver of future economic growth and is considered a necessity because the country has a population of only thirty-seven million people as of 2018. Created in 1967, Canada’s well managed merit based and economic driven immigration policy assigns points to prospective newcomers for job skills, education, a work offer and language proficiency. There also is an attempt to recruit foreign workers with the skills required to fill jobs that cannot be filled by current Canadian workers.
Their system is not based on country of origin rather it is primarily driven by the merits of the individual candidates applying to emigrate to Canada and their potential future contribution as productive citizens and their ability to successfully integrate into society. The success and wide spread acceptance of the current program across the Canadian political spectrum exists because of the country’s commitment to policing immigration strictly resulting in an orderly system with participants that are law abiding and come in through the so-called front door in the open for all to observe. The Canadian Government remains in tight control of every aspect of a well implemented and run immigration system.
They do have a geographic advantage working in their favor that assists in making Canadian borders that much more secure than ours. There are vast oceans to the east and west, the Arctic to the north and the U.S. located to the south of Canada.
Their Government recently announced plans to add one million more immigrants in the next three years 2019 through 2021. Immigrants to Canada are encouraged to retain their original identity, therefore, creating a society that is more like a mosaic rather than an American style melting pot.
America’s economic as well as cultural and social future is also so greatly dependent on the quality and skills of the people who migrate to the country, so why are we not doing a better job of selecting who can come to and stay in the U.S.?
Why does U.S. immigration policy remain in chaos?
We have a growing crisis at the U.S. southern border adversely impacted by continued inaction by Congress and especially the Democratic run House on this very important issue. The immigration laws of this country urgently require Congressional attention; however, inaction and an intractable political stalemate on the entire range of complex immigration issues are the order of the day. The Democratic Party’s position of permitting a reign of immigration chaos and lax enforcement of current laws seems to be motivated by a political objective that is contrary to the best interests of our nation’s future. The current situation encourages more illegals to come to our country with little regard to the negative consequences to our nation’s economic, social and cultural future including having Mexican drug and human trafficking cartels profit immensely from the disorder at the border.
The reason the Democrats continue to refuse to work in any constructive fashion with the Trump Administration on any immigration issues is that the Democrats covert objective in this fight is to grant amnesty to all illegal immigrants in our country. Behind the Democrats support of open borders and non-enforcement and reform of current immigration laws is an attempt to guarantee the winning of future elections. They are working to create massive new numbers of Democratic Party voters with a deliberate policy of inaction and opposition to any immigration policy. Maintaining and gaining power is the primary motivation for Democrats in this political battle.
The Democrats are in fact recruiting millions of more people to join an expanding and permanent underclass that they plan to be obligated to vote for them in future elections. The majority of illegal immigrants settle in six states including California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Florida. This has already aided them politically by increasing their voter rolls in solid Blue states such California, New York and New Jersey. If they succeed in turning Texas and Florida blue with more potential Democratic Party voters, the impact will be the Republican Party is left without any hope of winning a future Presidential Election. For example, Houston was just recognized as the most diverse city in the U.S. surpassing even New York City.
A need for immigrants with the proper skills and education
Similar to Canada, a 21st century American economy needs a rational immigration system to attract immigrants with the proper skills and education to contribute to its economic future. Our nation needs to have control regarding who can settle in this country and to resolve equitably and humanely what to do with the millions of illegal immigrations already here. In addition, we urgently require the proper laws and border enforcement capabilities including a border wall in place to halt the steady stream of new illegal migrants into the country.
Toronto is a city settled by invited guests selected by a well-defined Canadian Government immigration program established to deliberately choose new residents for their predicted positive future contribution to society. The policy works and it is obvious to any casual observer of this booming and civil city.
A visit north of the border will further convince any American for the need for urgent action on immigration policy. The Canadians have already completed the hard work and created a workable immigration model, America needs to urgently follow their good example.
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