Fraser Institute discusses immigration crisis

Get informed about immigration before it gets worse says Fraser Institute

Earlier today the Fraser Institute hosted a forum on immigration issues facing the new Conservative majority government. Martin Collacott, Fraser Institute senior fellow on immigration, talked for 90 minutes largely about Canada's immigration issues regarding family sponsorship. 

The discussion was sparked by the recent immigration change made by the Harper majority. The change decreases the amount of sponsored immigrant family members per year. It was met with hostility from minority groups and made an issue by the NDP and Liberals during the spring election. 

Collacott referenced the recent National Post post story by Herbert Grubel called: The invisible price tag. Grubel detailed the hidden costs of sponsorship to the tax payers. Most sponsored immigrants are parents or grandparents who do not work therefore not contributing to the economy. Collacott agreed with this and even referenced the 2005 Paul Martin Liberal government recognizing the problem, but due to public pressure allowed immigrant sponsorship to remain status quo.

The presentation also highlighted Canada's refugee problem. Collacott brought up the Tamil refugee situation from last year saying like the Tamils refugees come to Canada uninvited because they likely won't be deported. 

Collacott also took shots at the left wing political parties about their overall ignorance about the policies and blamed all parties for catering to immigrants for votes. He also stated that Canadians must get informed on this issue before it gets worse.