The Fraser Institute has just released a report on the state of immigration in Canada that, at first glance, appears to be a much needed real check on the subject. According to the National Post:
“The Fraser Institute report says newcomers pay about half as much in income taxes as other Canadians but absorb nearly the same value of government services, costing taxpayers roughly $6,051 per immigrant and amounting to a total annual cost of somewhere between $16.3-billion and $23.6-billion.”
Of course, their conclusion is getting pushback from the Establishment’s enforcers:
“’I’m sure the data behind the numbers is sound, but I think it only tells half the story,’ said Rudyard Griffiths, co-founder of the Dominion Institute and author of Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto. ‘The fact is that we’re doing immigration on the cheap … We don’t spend enough money on language services, and we don’t do enough skills accreditation and training.’”
So our problem with immigration is that existing Canadians are not spending enough money on new arrivals? Swell...
In a sane country, immigration would be like any other issue, with the pros and cons of various legal options debated rationally so that the most appropriate policy for the country could be enacted. But Canada isn’t a sane country, at least with regard to certain subjects. Immigration is one of those issues – like affirmative action – where we are encouraged to have a robust one-sided debate. We cheerlead (“Immigration! Immigration! Yeaah immigration!”) for the Received Opinion and scream racist! in a mandatory ritualistic two-minute hate at anyone who dares criticise it.
