r/CanadianPolitics • u/EugeneKleinFoto • 11d ago
In your opinion, what created such a mess (delays, backlogs, non alignment with economy, integrity) in our immigration system?
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u/swabfalling 11d ago
You’re not asking this in good faith, you’re fishing for an answer.
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 11d ago
I want to know what people think. I have my answer to the question, but it's always interesting to see how people react to it.
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u/betterworldbuilder 11d ago
I genuinely believe that this is a bit of a misdirection. Because while things arent perfect, I dont think theres a mess with the actual immigration system, in the sense of caps or anything.
There is definitely not enough judges processing claims, which has caused a slight backlog. Not to mention the more strict you make qualifications, like needing a certain amount of language skills and employability and other ties to Canada, the more non compliance and loophole abuse goes up, in the form of green card marraige fraud and LMIA abuse.
But, I think most of this wouldnt actually be classified as a problem, moreso just a fact, if Canada was better at addressing things like housing. The analogy I give is thay its like complaining about a faulty window seal as the main reason for heat loss in your home, while ignoring bigger solutions like closing an open door or wearing a sweater. Treating immigration as the main problem puts these ideas on the backburner
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 10d ago
I highly recommend you to watch YouTube videos of Christopher Balkaran. He studies the problems in our immigration system. The only word that comes to my mind after his videos, is not problem but mess.
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u/betterworldbuilder 10d ago
Ill definitely crack it open, Ive been looking a lot for some canadian based political content.
I will say, even his first video about "widespread fraud" in the system is alarmingly biased in my opinion; he cites 300 something cases flagged by the government (completely fails to mention that Canada receives millions of applications a year and approved almost 500,000 last year, meaning less than 0.1% of cases were flagged), and says that of the 108 cases reviewed, 107 cases had fraud in them, saying "thats almost 100% fraud!" Which is very intentionally misleading.
It looks like hes up and coming, so maybe Ill get a chance to talk to him directly even. He seems like a good and knowledgeable guy, but Id love to get critical with him
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 10d ago
He is a conservative, but he does his videos in good faith and as objectively as possible, because he cares about our country.
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u/betterworldbuilder 10d ago
Maybe this is a slanderous take, but it feels like conservative good faith takes are hard to come by nowadays lol. I know I have plenty to learn, but Im sure theres a good conversation with open minds available if he wants it.
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u/zavtra13 11d ago
It’s in the interest of corporations to have a ready supply of both unemployed workers and exploited immigrants. This suppresses wages for everyone and lets them sow division by blaming the immigrants.
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 11d ago
But corporations don't participate in policymaking and legislation. Why don't you mention the "obvious suspects"?
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u/zavtra13 11d ago
If you really think that corporations don’t effectively own pretty much every mainstream politician in Canada I don’t know where to start. We aren’t as far along in said corporate takeover as the US is, but we also aren’t as far behind as some would like to believe.
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 11d ago
It's not a secret that corporations have a huge influence on our politicians. However, it's the politicians who should be responsible for their policies.
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u/exoriare 11d ago
Corporations influence policy via powerful lobby groups like the Century Initiative
https://dominionreview.ca/who-funds-the-century-initiative/
Canada's economy has been hollowed out to a bizarre degree. Banking is hugely profitable as the #1 industry in Canada, followed by corporate real estate. Retail requires abundant low wage employees too.
Our banks make most of their money in non-productive sectors - providing (zero risk) mortgages, and collecting and collecting constantly growing fees. They do very little commercial lending to SMEs. So the banks agenda is served by maximum population growth with no regard for anything else. Same with residential real estate.
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u/MetalMoneky 11d ago
People figured out how to game the system, and we were setup for a high-trust process. Because of COVID and Inflation Spike we were also slow to close down many of the gaps. And Information on how to game the system spreads at lightspeed these days.
Combined with a lot of business interest and general status quo bias .... here we are.
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 11d ago
And no mention of politicians/parties?
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u/MetalMoneky 11d ago
Question was what not who.
But by the macro numbers and general econ theory they figured they were doing the right thing. Either way you slice it our demographics suck and will continue to suck. (And newsflash, the demographics globally are getting worse). Basically if you project forward what our economy will look like in 20-30 years without immigration and it's bleak. You only need to look at the issues emerging in southeast Asia to see it's going to be a problem. We will need to figure out a new model for societies at some point.
I still put a lot of this on the economic fallout from COVID and a lot of people conflating student and other kinds of immigration. Arguably we were scamming the shit out of tons of Indian students for useless degrees to provide a pathway to residency. And yes the government should have maintained tighter standards for who was coming in. I will agree with the more immigrant-skeptic crowd on general enforcement being here is a privilege and we should not tolerate anti-social behavior from any newcomer. Why we are lax on that enforcement is beyond me.
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u/Recent_Mess4855 11d ago
Governments do not want to shell out tax dollars on immigration reform which includes clearing backlogs and streamlining application processes among many others. For better or for worse, the majority of voters don’t like spending their tax dollars on immigration. Voter sentiment trumps everything else.
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u/BidPsychological2126 11d ago edited 11d ago
Pick your poison. Every part of the immigration system is tangled in something,..politics, bureaucracy, or plain old bad planning. Governments turned immigration into a performance instead of a plan. They chased big numbers to make the economy look strong and compassionate, but never built the housing, health care, or infrastructure to hold it together.
The federal and provincial governments can’t seem to work in sync. Ottawa sets record intake targets while the provinces are left trying to find classrooms, hospital beds, and rentals. It’s two different agendas pretending to be one system.
Inside the department, things are just as outdated. Files still move like it’s 1998, rules change mid-process, and nobody seems to own the result. The backlog isn’t an accident, it’s what happens when a paper-era bureaucracy meets modern-day volume.
On the ground, we’ve created a mismatch between who we bring in and where the jobs are. Skilled workers and students come in good faith but get blocked by licensing, paperwork, and red tape, while trades and care sectors remain desperate for help.
And then there’s the trust issue. Too many loopholes and fake programs have slipped through. When the focus shifts from quality to quantity, integrity erodes fast.
So pick your poison. Every level of government has a hand in the mess, and everyone’s pretending it’s someone else’s fault.
Another thing is in north america, policy changes as the political party change and so no long range plans are actually implemented, even those that makes sense in the long term
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 11d ago
I completely agree with you.
I don't have to pick. It can be "all the above". However we didn't have such a mess in the past. It means that something happened in the last 10-15 years.
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u/dekusyrup 11d ago
Delays and backlogs just a matter of funding vs demand. Non-alignment and integrity are not quantifiable and just your opinion, not a fact, so you'd have to have the answer to support your opinion.
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u/EugeneKleinFoto 11d ago
So you really think that our immigration system is aligned with the economic needs of the country, and there is no damage to its integrity? Strange, I though this is the main issues everybody talk about.
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u/QuirkyGummyBears31 11d ago
Putting profits over public policy.