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Originally Posted by YOWetal
Many probably even most would leave. Even a few hundred thousand more illegal residents would be substantial. It is certainly possible to access healthcare and already an issue in some ERs. My understanding is the illegal residents accessing healhtcare skew older. Though this may reflect need for healthcare rather than the age of illegals in Canada.
I am sure there is a lot of work for cash that is still possible. Construction it is widespread. New options would open up too. Childcare is likely less and less possible with $10 daycare but with nanny is still an option for many with the total cost $20/hr+. Cleaning is very lucrative and also mostly a cash business. If you have a decently affordable place to live you can certainly do well earning cash if you are working substantial hours.
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It's unfortunate that the foreign student surge isn't well understood and they all get lumped in together. There's basically three groups.
1) The remittance group. They want to earn dollars to send home. They are usually TFWs. Occasionally they'll use student visas as a way in. This surged when 40 hrs per week was allowed for students.
They aren't always committed to staying here. They will if they can. They'll move on if they can't.
2) Pay for play. This group saw college diplomas as the cost of getting PR. Their ultimate goal isn't to slave away as undocumented dishwashers. They are supposed to get PR and sponsors the rest. In this group there's two subgroups. One is more desperate than the other. There are those whose families have taken substantial financial risk to get them here. They are more desperate. They may stay on illegally just to pay off debts at home. The second group is middle class families who can afford to send their kids abroad to study. They won't stay if the plans don't work out. They'll go look for something else.
3) Legit students. They are still here. Though in shaker proportions. Getting PR isn't usually their number one priority. They often cross shop Canadian schools against other Western schools. They tend to prioritize their careers and will go wherever that takes them.
The government (and its apologists) have tried to act like we're getting #3. But we're getting fewer of them and tons of #2 and lots of #1. And the system perversely preferences and rewards those groups more than #3.
I have said before and I'll stand by it. Students make the best immigrants. They get time to improve language skills and acculturate. There's no problem with foreign qualifications. And they come here at the start of their working lives without us having to invest in raising them and while they fund our postsecondary system. But this benefit math only works if we're actually getting legit students.