Originally Posted by biguc
More than anything going on right now, the coming game of dipshit musical chairs is a great reason to stay away for the rest of the decade.
I tend to agree with those who say a different government over the last four years wouldn't have made a difference to conditions in Canada today. I live in a different country with, obviously, a different government, and we have many of the same problems.
The overarching lesson of the '20s thus far should be that we really don't have the control we thought we did. Yes, yes, pandemics and wars happen unpredictably. Predictable economic outcomes follow. But isn't migration easily controllable by policy? If it were, why would every western country struggle with it?
We generally hear two angles, "be humane and let them in", or, "let them drown and the others will learn not to come." Both are naive. Surprisingly, the most reasonable voice has come from Georgia Meloni, saying that if we want to reduce migration we have to work with the countries people are coming from to improve conditions there.
Canada, remote as it is, seems like it could reduce immigration more easily than a country like Italy. But David Cameron used to talk about reducing immigration to England to the 10s of thousands; the Tories have been consistently, in message if not in deed, anti-immigration. And yet now the UK is also seeing record immigration.
There are a few reasons. First, the Tories aren't being honest. The UK needs immigrants. So does Canada, and every other rich country with a lot of old people who need looking after, and few young people who are willing to do so at the rates we're willing to pay.
And remember how nobody could find help immediately after Covid lock downs ended? It's not yet clear that increased immigration isn't, in part, a response to latent demand.
That the market, ultimately, rules migration indicates the second reason it's a problem: it's hard for (most) governments to stop. Canada can and should close the diploma-mill path to residency. But will it make a difference? There's little more than the cost of a flight stopping anyone from entering the country, crashing at a friend or relative's place, and finding work in the gig economy.
Canada's private sponsorship program actually does a good job of bringing people legally into the country through this avenue.
Every city in Europe, I should add, also has Indian dudes on ebikes doing deliveries. Canada, once again, is not unique.
Finally, there's the push behind migration. Things aren't great in developing countries either. Between the climate crisis and Cold War 2, things suck and are getting worse in a lot of places. And then there are the fascists, Modi and Xi, making people miserable in the world's two largest countries.
Bringing this back around to musical dipshits, would a conservative government right now produce a better outcome? The evidence says no.
The evidence also says that Polievre has no game beyond culture wars and blaming the people in charge. Blaming people in charge stops working once you're in charge. And if Canada were to continue down the road to culture wars, so soon after the Americans have shown us how it ends with Ron Desantis breaking his high heels marching on the Disneyland Matterhorn, now that would be mediocrity manifest.
|
Prev
Linear Mode
