Immigration: where are the advantages?
Immigration has definite economic benefits for the immigrants themselves. For natives, its real advantages are rather social and cultural, provided that the absorption capacity of the host population is respected.
Philippe Couillard, John McCallum, Denis Coderre and Mélanie Joly welcome Syrian refugees in Montreal. (Photo: Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press)
Philippe Couillard, John McCallum, Denis Coderre and Mélanie Joly welcome Syrian refugees in Montreal. (Photo: Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press)
The following text is taken from a brief presented to the National Assembly by Pierre Fortin on February 10, 2016.
Let's start by observing that immigration will be one of the two or three biggest issues that will concern every country on the planet in the 21st century. Information, communication and travel costs next to nothing, and there are 4 billion people who realize that the average income of the other 4 billion next door is 10 times higher than theirs. They quickly understand that immigrating can give them a huge advantage in living standards.
We are fighting at the gates of rich countries to enter them, not only because of the wars which are currently bringing an exceptional influx of refugees, but because of a universal and quite normal aspiration to have a good job, to s '' enrich and prepare a better future for his children. Figure 1 shows that Australia, Canada, the United States and Europe are among the wealthy regions of the globe currently most open to immigration. In Canada, the weight of the population of foreign origin is less important in Quebec than in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, but as important as in the United States and more important than in Europe.
fortin_immigration_figure1
The weight of the 1st and 2nd generation immigrant population is 40% or more in the six largest cities in Canada
Table 1 shows that in Canada, a substantial fraction of the population of large metropolitan areas is of first or second generation immigrant origin: for example, 76% in Toronto, 68% in Vancouver, 39 % to Montreal. To say the least, Canada's six largest cities have experienced an unprecedented expansion of their immigrant populations over the past 35 years. This wave was less strong in Montreal than in Toronto or Vancouver, but Figure 2 nevertheless shows that Quebec's net international immigration rate has nonetheless increased significantly. It was traditionally lower than that of Ontario, but it is no longer. Ontario's rate has fallen by almost half over the past 15 years, while Quebec continues to open up more and more to immigration.
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