Morning folks! 🌎
Today for OnlySky, I contrast three recent migrant crises in the news - in Canada, in the UK, and in Texas - to reflect on the economic and environmental factors that keep getting lost in the panic around rising immigration.
Immigration *is* a serious issue, which is why we cannot afford to let xenophobes and political stunts dominate the conversation. We need to grapple with our countries' underlying failure to invest in better societies all around.
https://onlysky.media/mclark/whats-behind-the-migrant-crises-in-canada-the-uk-and-texas/
"The last time Canada grew this quickly was in the 1950s, and the last time it achieved these raw numbers of new residents was 1949, when Canada gained a new province in Newfoundland."
"At present, there is one housing start for every 4.2 people entering the working-age population, a significant shortfall next to the historical average of one for every 1.8."
Those facts. Yes, we need to steer the conversation in the direction of problem solving and away from finger pointing.
That 1949 figure came from the NBC report, and I don't think it's a fair comparison to the issue today, precisely because those people came with homes already in place. (That's why you'll see other news reports lean on the 1957 rate-based figure instead.)
But boy, is that NBC Report bleak - and if you really want to depress yourself, click through the OECD report I linked about Canada's anticipated economic future! 😬 We need *much* better investment in meaningful reforms.
I'm still mulling this over as I go about my business. Willingness probably has little to do with it. As you point out, it's the "population trap", the labour shortage, etc. I did just look at the NBC report. Holy crap.
(The international student issue is fascinating too, on more than one level. That's something I've seen with my own eyes.) Thanks for this.
Nahhhh. I'm back to thinking it's about lack of willingness and imagination. We simply won't imagine anything different. Fin. Back to art now. 😂
@MLClark
Good point. Still interesting, I suppose, in the context of the '40s and '50s being an era of big population growth generally, and there being a willingness to build housing to accommodate it. The National Housing Act of 1944, for example. The housing issue frightens the heck out of me, not only because I worry about where the younger folks are going to live, but also because of how PP and other right wing politicians are manipulating the issue to serve their hate-filled purposes.