In the last few years I have been shocked by the number of people in my small home town of Steinbach  who don’t look like the people who used to live here. I am used to a community filled with immigrants from Europe, particularly from Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine and the like. But things have changed drastically. Now when I walk through town or go to a restaurant like MacDonalds I am amazed at how many of the people there look like they come from other places—places like Asia. And from all over Asia. Some people are concerned about that. Some people feel threatened by that. I don’t. I love the diversity. There are good people in the world who aren’t Mennonites. What has led to such enormous changes?

Some countries noticed what it was that made America so prosperous. According to Robert Guest, it was the openness to immigration. Welcoming people from all sorts of places was good for the economy. Building walls was bad for the economy.

 Canada was a good example of a country who saw the benefits of immigration. America’s population is 14% foreign born while Canada’s population is now nearly 23% foreign born. Canada has said it wants to bring in 1.5 million new immigrants in the next 5 years.

Now that also brings problems in its train. After all, where can we house these people? And how will this drive inflation? These are major concerns so Canada must be smart about how it admits people into the country. And it hasn’t always been smart.

 Many people in Canada—not everyone—can see that immigration is not a threat to Canada. It is an opportunity for Canada!

 As Fareed Zakaria pointed out,

  “Study after study has shown, immigrants are world class entrepreneurs. Over 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Immigrants in America are 3 times more likely to start a business than the native ones, by one count.”

 

Canada is expecting a similar return on investment. Canada has not opened its borders either. It carefully chooses who is allowed into the country. According to Zakaria, “since the 1960s Canada has a forged a unique approach to immigration favouring immigrants with the skills that their country needs.”  Robert Guest says Canada has been cherry-picking by making sure it gets immigrants it really needs. But isn’t that the best for the host country and the immigrants? Zakaria says, “Canada’s merit-based system has become the gold standard, copied by Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and now Germany.” Who would have known?

Germany also has a similar labour shortage. It too needs immigrants. Germany has also been working on a merit-based immigration policy so that crucial job openings can be filled.

But, as Zakaria, says, “While other countries are opening its doors, America is falling behind.”  As immigration attorney Rachel Self put it: “These countries are going to be better than us some day, because we aren’t allowing the best to come here anymore!” During the brief, but too long reign of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller America actually refused entry to a lot of proposed immigrants from the tech industry that it very much needed. It even kept people away from its universities. None of this was smart.

Canada should not fall into this trap. We must remember smart immigration is smart economic policy.