In the past nine years, perhaps no policy has proven to be as harmful for the Canadian society and its economy than the Trudeau government’s immigration policy. Pictured: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo Credit: Justin Trudeau/X.
Conventional wisdom suggests that governments defeat themselves. There is a shelf life of every administration because sooner or later the accumulative negatives outweigh the positives and the populous becomes agitated seeing the same faces providing the same excuses. American author Mark Twain summed up this phenomenon rather colourfully when he observed, “Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reasons.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is noted for its scandalous behaviour, but more serious is the fact that its core policies have placed Canadians in a worse position than they were when the Liberals ushered in their “sunny days” in 2015. The Trudeau government’s policy record speaks volumes. Every week there are new facts surfacing and new evidence of deceit or incompetence, or both, that speaks to why Canadians need a change of government in Ottawa.
National Security
The crisis swirling around Canada’s Capital at the moment concerns Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and his son Mostafa Eldidi, who face multiple charges after being discovered plotting an Islamic State terrorist attack in Toronto. Incredibly, the father was given Canadian citizenship in 2016, despite allegedly appearing in an ISIS propaganda video in which he is seen dismembering a prisoner.
This shocking thwarted attempt at terrorism on Canadian soil comes at a time when the country is witnessing increased pro-Palestinian protests and lawlessness in the streets, and an increased rate of antisemitism. Deaf to Canadians’ growing anxiety over safety and security, the Trudeau government maintains its defence of Canada’s temporary resident visa program that is increasing the number of asylum seekers from Gaza.
In a recent National Post editorial, a national security analyst on Middle East and South Asia affairs, Joe Adam George cut to the heart of the matter on taking in large numbers of poorly vetted Gazans, “There are concerns that the new arrivals may join the hate-filled mass rallies and aggravate an already toxic situation created by months of unabated violence and threats against the Jewish community by Hamas supporters.”
The Trudeau government is the only government in the world accepting Gazans – even wealthy Middle East countries that are predominately Muslim, such as Saudia Arabia, Egypt and Qatar are refusing entry to Gazans. American Senators recently wrote to the U.S. President to state their concern, “The possibility of terrorists crossing the U.S.-Canada border is deeply concerning given the deep penetration of Gazan society by Hamas.” Just this past week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security instituted new changes to tighten up the border procedures and make it more difficult for migrants to cross into the United States.
This American border initiative is a reflection of their concern for the inadequacies of the Canadian administration. Consider that a government audit found nearly half of more than 7,000 foreign nationals with “serious security concerns” took up residency in Canada between 2014 and 2019. Recent government figures show in the period of 2016 to 2022 a total 13,605 foreigners were ordered to be deported, but 8,723 of them (64 per cent) remain in Canada. Last month, data surfaced from Immigration Canada that there are as many as 500,000 undocumented foreigners in the country that the government has lost track of – these are illegal immigrants and those who have exhausted their appeals, not the lawfully landed immigrants, foreign students and migrant workers.
Immigration
In the past nine years, perhaps no policy has proven to be as harmful for the Canadian society and its economy than the Trudeau government’s immigration policy. This harm has been brought into sharp focus in the past few years as the population increases have placed immense pressure on the country’s health care, housing, and social services. The statistics show that in 2022 and 2023 Canada’s population grew by more than one million-plus people each year. The population growth rate was 3.2 per cent in 2023, which is the highest rate in the world outside of African countries. Almost all (98 per cent) of that growth came from migration.
Some economists question whether this population growth rate is sustainable. In spite of the pressures being felt, the Trudeau government persists with an immigration schedule that is to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, 500,000 in 2025, and another 500,000 in 2026. Even though there has been some lip service paid by the immigration minister to checking immigration numbers, the most recent government data reveals the country is on track to welcome 511,410 new permanent residents in Canada this year. That is 5.4 per cent more than what the Trudeau government scheduled. It is an 8.4 per cent increase over last year, which is considered a record-breaking year for the country’s immigration levels.
The permanent resident numbers are less than half the story though, as government figures reveal 1,160,000 temporary residents came to Canada in the last 18 months. There may be more than an astonishing 2,200,000 foreign workers and students in the country. The Trudeau government is solely responsible for an unchecked influx of temporary residents into Canada. In 2024, Ottawa is approving temporary foreign workers’ applications and international students’ visas at a record pace, even as Trudeau and his ministers tell Canadians they are cutting back. And the situation has been allowed to go so badly that the United Nations made public this week a report that concludes Canada’s temporary foreign worker program is a “breeding ground for contemporary slavery.”
Housing
Another core policy matter where the Trudeau government fails Canadians is in addressing the country’s housing crisis. The government has promised that by 2031 it will oversee the completion of 3.9 million new homes in addition to current construction rates. This Trudeau policy promise would require 731,500 starts annually, almost triple the average 225,104 houses built per year since 2015. In doing the math, the government will have to build roughly one home per minute, more than 575,000 houses per year. It’s simply inconceivable and it defies reality. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported a seven per cent decline in housing starts last year – and there has been a decline in the first six months of this year.
The current home ownership situation in Canada is worrisome. More than six million Canadians will need to renegotiate their mortgages at much higher interest rates this year or in 2025. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) reported that two of three Canadians (65 per cent) holding mortgages are having difficulties paying them today, and more than half of these struggling Canadians (55 per cent) are sinking further into debt by having to use their savings to meet their monthly payments. An RBC Economics report stated that just one in four Canadians who want to buy a home (26 per cent) can afford to buy a single-family home right now, according to a recent report by RBC. The FCAC data reveals two in three Canadians who rent (67 per cent) are having difficulties paying their monthly rent – more than half of renters (59 per cent) are actually using their savings to pay their monthly rent.
In a sadly ironic convergence of Canadian immigration and housing data, Immigration Canada reports the federal government has 3,810 hotel rooms billed to taxpayers for illegal immigrants to live in, according to news reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. Since 2017, taxpayers have paid $1.76 billion for hotels across Canada – including those in Niagara Falls. Room and board for the kept migrants costs $224 per day, according to a May 3rd Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in parliament – with meals averaging $84 per day and rooms $140 per night, again as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter (certainly, the government-subsidized legacy media would not publish this type of data).
In part two next week: the Trudeau government policy decisions and arrangements with the Chinese Communist Party, including its unconscionable act of shielding the MPs who have been conducting potentially treasonous acts with foreign governments.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
