The wall of silence surrounding the harm to low-wage workers has begun to crack.
The United States is deep into a season of severe discontent. Our politics are polarized, our Congress is moribund, and our purchasing power has tumbled. A Gallup poll in early 2024 showed that only 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the “way things are going.” Nearly 70 percent believe the country is on the “wrong track.”
Back in March, Immigration Minister Marc Miller laid out the beginnings of a plan to control Canada’s runaway population growth.
The share of temporary residents in the population, then 6.2 per cent, would be eased to 5 per cent over three years. The group – a mix of study and work permit holders, their family members and asylum claimants – would need to drop about 20 per cent from 2.5 million, he estimated.
Finding an affordable apartment to rent in most of Canada’s larger cities is nearly impossible for people earning minimum wage, a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) says.
Only 22 neighbourhoods out of nearly 800 in larger Canadian cities have average rents for two-bedroom apartments that would be affordable for someone earning minimum wage, the report says. The situation has grown worse since the CCPA’s first study of the issue in 2019.
Trudeau’s Legacy: Indentured servitude and depressed wages for all.
The owner of a Canadian Tire store in Toronto is being investigated by the provincial and federal governments for allegedly mistreating and financially exploiting employees hired through Ottawa’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
At least 13 of those employees resigned or were fired by the store late last year, according to documents reviewed by The Globe and Mail and conversations with several of the workers.
… A spokesperson with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Training, Immigration and Skills Development confirmed to The Globe that the province is investigating Ezhil Natarajan, who owns and operates a Canadian Tire store in Etobicoke, which comprises Toronto’s west end.
The 2023 GSI estimates that on any given day in 2021, there were 11 million people living in modern slavery in India, the highest number of any country.
There are few more inconvenient truths in modern Britain than the failure of mass migration. We wanted to believe the myth, that we could fling open our doors and into the UK would flow migrants from across the globe, transforming our nation into a prosperous melting pot. But wishing it so was not enough, and with each new dataset the economic miracle looks more and more like a mirage.
Immigration hitting sour note in Canada’s biggest cities
Residents in some of Canada’s biggest cities want the Trudeau government to clamp down on immigration. A poll conducted by Maru Public Opinion for CityNews finds that a strong majority either wants immigration stopped for the foreseeable future or to have numbers reduced for the next two years.
#WATCH: International students and temporary foreign workers in Brampton protest for extended work permits and permanent residency. pic.twitter.com/zbzrlspVwL
Britain is floundering, there’s no getting away from it. As to why, you could write an encyclopedia on the subject: The critical absence of conservatism since Thatcher, to the extent that a third of the electorate mistook Keir Starmer for a viable political option outside of North Korea; insane virtue signals like Net Zero, which sees Britain playing “Save the Planet” while the rest of the world wisely gives Greta the finger, and laughs all the way to the bank; an Exchequer bankrupt to the tune of 3 trillion quid, while the Chancellor dithers over rounding errors like the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Proposed changes to the Citizenship Act have prompted concerns of a “never-ending chain of citizenship” for Canadians choosing to live abroad, including for the children of so-called birth tourists.
Bill C-71 is a proposed amendment to the Act that intends to allow Canadian citizenship to be continuously passed down by citizens who were born abroad to their children who are also born abroad, as opposed to the current first-generation limit.
‘Alarming trend’ of more international students claiming asylum: minister
A “growing number” of international students are claiming asylum in order to stay in Canada after being allowed in on student visas, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says, calling it an “alarming trend.”
Speaking to Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block, Miller said those claimants are using the international student program as a “backdoor entry into Canada,” often to lower their tuition fees, and that universities and colleges must improve their screening and monitoring practices to weed out bad actors.
He said his department is studying the issue and suggested further reforms to the program were being explored.
They want a new Canada, one that doesn’t include Canadians. Someone has to vote for them after all.
A majority of Canadians say the country should accept fewer immigrants in 2025 than it did in 2024, with nearly three-quarters saying immigration should be reduced until housing becomes more affordable, according to a Nanos survey for CTV News.
Two out of three, or 64 per cent, of Canadians surveyed said the country should accept fewer immigrants in 2025 compared to 2024. Meanwhile, about one in four, or 26 per cent, of Canadians said we should let in about the same number of immigrants, while only five per cent said we should accept more.
Jason Kenney, former premier of Alberta and federal immigration minister, said the Trudeau government likely “imagined” it would be “creating a new permanent Liberal voting bloc” by rapidly boosting Canada’s immigration numbers, but instead ended up eroding Canada’s pro-immigration consensus.
There are a few basic expectations of any federal government: secure the border, nurture trade relationships, keep the federal courts running, maintain and uphold national defence, cultivate economic growth and so on. These are the fundamentals – the responsibilities that a federal government is supposed to have in order – so as to earn the trust to take on ambitious secondary projects. Indeed, when alleged sex offenders (and even those found guilty) are set free because of procedural delays stemming from judicial vacancies, the government has no business – or credibility – announcing plans for a national school lunch program.
The federal government will be further limiting the number of international students permitted to enter Canada next year. It’s the government’s latest immigration-related measure to address Canadians’ ongoing housing and affordability concerns.
In 2025, new international student study permits will be reduced by 10 per cent from the 2024 target of 485,000. That will mean 437,000 permits issued next year, with that same target continuing into 2026.