When Canada's population hit 40 million people last June, the federal government could not contain its excitement. "It's a strong signal that Canada remains a dynamic and welcoming country, full of potential," said Anil Arora, Canada's chief statistician. Canada had grown more quickly than expected-by 1.1 million people over the previous 12 months, mostly due to a huge wave of international students and temporary foreign workers. And yet, despite the fanfare, this population boom wasn't a good-news story. Because there were not enough homes for all those new people.
Immigration is at the heart of Canada's success. It's the gas that keeps our economic, cultural and social engines running. But in the last few years, the federal government has admitted too many people without a plan for where they would live. Back in 2013, Statistics Canada projected that Canada would have just 38.7 million people by 2023-a massive miscalculation. The consequences showed up everywhere. Tent encampments popped up all over the place, even in small towns. Rent soared, house prices flew out of reach. Half of all Canadians either did not have a doctor or could not get an appointment. Foreign students were shocked to arrive in Canada to find that they had to rent a bed in a shared room. Some newcomers were forced to live in shelters and, when the shelters were full, to sleep in the streets. A year later, it is obvious that the government has slow-walked us into a catastrophe. It would be wrong to say that immigration caused it, since that implies immigrants are to blame. It was the Liberals who kept bringing people in. They didn't see the crisis coming.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2024 من Maclean's.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2024 من Maclean's.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."
Bombs destroyed my neighbourhood and killed my loved ones. I hope my family and I can find refuge in Quebec.
TIDAL WAVE
Susan Lapides chronicles her family's summers in a tiny New Brunswick fishing town
THE NORTHERN FRONT
In Ontario's hinterlands, a battle is brewing between First Nations, prospectors and the provincial government over a multi-billion-dollar motherlode of metals. Inside the fight for the Ring of Fire.
THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM
Several provincial governments now mandate parental consent for kids to change pronouns in Schools. Who gets to decide a child's gender?
THE JACKPOT GENERATION
Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.
My Child-Free Choice
For a long time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to become a parent. The climate crisis clinched my decision.
The Main Event
Calgary's massive, modern, newly expanded BMO Centre is open for business
Embrace the Four-Day Workweek
Canada is facing a national productivity crisis. One counterintuitive solution? Give workers more time off.
Richard Ireland, mayor of Jasper, is ready to rebuild
IT'S TEMPTING TO LEAN on numbers when conveying the scale of the damage wrought by July's fire in Jasper, Albertathe worst in the national park's 117-year history. Water bombers were grounded in the face of 400-foot-high flames. More than 25,000 visitors and residents were evacuated as hundreds of firefighters flew in to assist. Damages exceeded $700 million. A third of the town's structures were consumed-historical buildings, tourist haunts and family homes. One of them belonged to Richard Ireland.
"The Taliban tried to kill me at 16.Eight years later, I am free in Canada."
I ATTENDED A PRIVATE ENGLISH SCHOOL in the Jaghori District of Ghazni province, Afghanistan.