Jagmeet Singh....NDP

[Mendalla]

Unfortunately, the housing crisis does not have a simple solution. Certainly just building homes won't do it. We probably need affordable rentals or condos more than more single family homes at this point.

anyone who questions the ethics of impoverishing the native population by using immigration to crowd them out and underbid their labor can be denounced as hate crime

Except that's not what that truck was saying. That message would not require specifically targeting Muslims, which the truck did. You can address immigration without targeting specific groups. From the CBC account:

In videos posted to social media, video screens on the truck appear to display a series of questions that say: "Is this Lebanon? Is this Yemen? Is this Syria? Is this Iraq?"

The truck then displays images of what appears to be Muslims praying and protesting in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Palestinian flags and the square's concrete arches are visible in the images.

The messages on the truck then say: "No. This is Canada. Wake up Canada. You are under siege."

No mention there of labour. The focus is on one specific religion and culture and their practices, not immigration or labour economics. That's why it is being tagged as hate speech or Islamophobic. If they had another message or intent, they should have presented things differently.

 

[jimkenney12]

How is this addressing the housing crisis @jimkenney12

Canada is taking in over a million migrants a year now, primarily from the subcontinent. That’s a few percent of the country’s population every year.

Engineering a political economy which keeps labor costs down and inflates assets while at the same time creating a moral economy in which anyone who questions the ethics of impoverishing the native population by using immigration to crowd them out and underbid their labor can be denounced as hate crime. Convenient, no?

I agree with much of what you are saying. My response was to your claim that he is not addressing issues. I do not need to agree with his policies to defend against a claim he is not addressing him. The capacity of fast food chains and retailers to staff their businesses with cheap labour is a problem with our economy. The nature of our economy, unfortunately, links our needs for medical and other personnel to the demands of other sectors. Reducing our impacts on the environment is tied to reducing our consumption in those sectors reliant on cheap labour.

As for housing, most leaders do not focus on our needs for different kinds of housing and the long term benefit of having most of that housing owned by co-ops, non profits, and public.

 

[WhyCzar]

In any case, in the short term, we have a problem: too many people, not enough houses.

In Anglo countries, to politicians having a realistic chance of winning an election it seems the only question any of them will ask about immigration is “How much faster?” Since many of the migrants are citizens now, and can vote, and certainly won’t vote for their own deportations, with every day that passes, voting becomes a less plausible means of fixing this.

 

[jimkenney12]

What do you mean by "fixing this"?

 

[Waterfall]

In any case, in the short term, we have a problem: too many people, not enough houses.

In Anglo countries, to politicians having a realistic chance of winning an election it seems the only question any of them will ask about immigration is “How much faster?” Since many of the migrants are citizens now, and can vote, and certainly won’t vote for their own deportations, with every day that passes, voting becomes a less plausible means of fixing this.

And why would they vote for their own deportation?

 

[Northwind]

This has turned into an immigration thread I see. We are a land of immigrants. How many of our families have been in this country more than a generation or two?

We cannot put the blame for housing problems on immigrants. That's too simplistic.

 

[Northwind]

Northwind was not suggesting that any "rule" was involved, just making a comment that the your sentence was a better reflection of Poilievre than Singh in her opinion, or that's how I read it.

Exactly.

It might be good to remind WC that I am no longer a moderator. She was away for awhile so may have missed that.

 

[WhyCzar]

The top 3 priorities listed by immigrants in surveys are as follows:

- Access to affordable, adequate and suitable housing
- Employment and entrepreneurship opportunities
- Access to suitable health care, including mental health care

That does not seem to be a "Fixed Deal" for immigrants currently @jimkenney12.

 

[Northwind]

What exactly is your point @WhyCzar? Or are you just trolling us?

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

The top 3 priorities listed by immigrants in surveys are as follows:

- Access to affordable, adequate and suitable housing
- Employment and entrepreneurship opportunities
- Access to suitable health care, including mental health care

That does not seem to be a "Fixed Deal" for immigrants currently @jimkenney12.

That would be the same list of priorities Canadians would have

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

What is your problem with people with permanent resident status or new Canadian citizenship? You won’t get that if you don’t contribute to society by working and paying taxes.

 

[Mrs.Anteater]

Citizens don’t realize how badly we need i migrants to fill the gap of workers. In NS, 4 out of 10 nurses are goung to retire or quit their job within the next few years ( according to the Nurses Union).
Maybe you want to increase the birth rate of “white” Canadians to fill that gap? Making abortions illegal as south of the border will not do it….

 

[Mendalla]

Not just healthcare either. As I understand it, we continue to have shortages in the skilled trades which will need to be filled if we are going to get those millions of homes built. Unfortunately, postwar generations devalued the trades, and blue collar work in general, in favour of white colour, university-educated professions, something that still has not been remedied. So immigrants are filling a lot of those roles.

 

[Northwind]

Not to mention developers have been given the responsibility to build new rentals. They are in it to make a profit, not to create affordable homes. This strategy won't help.

 

[WhyCzar]

The problem is not with immigration itself. The problem is no-one is providing the support, infrastructure and planning for it.

 

[Mendalla]

The problem is not with immigration itself. The problem is no-one is providing the support, infrastructure and planning for it.

Which is partly on our federal-provincial model. Immigration (other than in Quebec) is federal but a lot of that infrastructure is provincial. So if the governments involved aren't singing from the same song sheet, a mess happens. One thing we really need is a PM who is a bit of a diplomat and can negotiate their way through these things and avoid the kind of intergovernmental blowups.that tend to derail efforts on cross-jurisdictional issues. Someone who will talk to the provinces without chastising or yelling, even when they are disagreeing with them.

 

[Waterfall]

The problem is not with immigration itself. The problem is no-one is providing the support, infrastructure and planning for it.

Time to call in the Mennonites for help. If they can frame barns in a day, they could frame homes....forget the basements. They'd be good for training too.

 

[WhyCzar]

Congratulations @nenshi on your victory. Serving as opposition leader is a great honour and I look forward to the dialogue we will have on how best to serve Albertans. -Daniel Smith

I am looking forward to this dialogue as well.

 

[Northwind]

Does Smith actually engage in dialogue?

I'm glad Nenshi is the leader. I hope he does provide some balance and civility to AB political leadership

 

[Mendalla]

And, back on topic, having Nenshi in provincial politics sets up Jagmeet with a possible successor. Not sure if Nenshi would want to turn federal, but having provincial experience never hurt if he did.