Monty Brown Tucson, AZ 3 minutes ago Frankly any thinking person would have adopted the Canadian (reasoned) approach to immigration a long time ago. Our "family" oriented policies and the allocation to achieve diversity are not rational if one wants prosperity and not decline. Flag

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Jack Boston 5 minutes ago We need to get away from this idea expressed by many in this blog that meritocracy means that we will be limiting immigration to white engineers from Europe. Many of these same bloggers say that we need illegal immigration for menial jobs. Why not fill these jobs with legal immigrants from diverse geographic, racial, and religious backgrounds? Flag

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Tim Marko Ontario Canada 6 minutes ago Canada has taken the position that in order to compete globally it must find ways to grow. The electorate understands that future success is in part based on successfully managed population growth. With the birth rate being approximately 1% immigration has to pick up the slack. But perhaps more importantly the electorate understands that diversity is a strength to be leveraged and enjoyed. For example, who would have thought that Shawarma and Bi Bim Bap would as popular as Poutine? The world is big and small at the same time. We should all try to enjoy it.



Happy 150 Canada!!!!! Flag

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ABC NYC 6 minutes ago The US should allow merit based entry along with reunification and cancel all other forms of immigration aside from refugee and asylum programs. End result = more immigrants and that is a very good thing for our economy. Flag

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Dave Wisconsin 6 minutes ago This policy would be a disaster for the US. I'll leave it to our incompetent leaders to figure out why, and I'm sure they'll fail. Flag

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Montreal Moe WestPark, Quebec 6 minutes ago Here in Quebec 70% of our new doctors are female. There is no quota system our new doctors graduate with little debt whether their parents are millionaires or paupers. This alone is in total contradiction to the GOP moral philosophy. Our new doctors enter medicine as the best qualified not with the best parents or bank account. I cannot imagine the Kochs, Mitt Romney, John McCain or George Bush Sr or Jr reaching the top on their merit in anything. William F Buckley Jr was the son of one of the world's richest men with the best education money could buy but underperformed in debate against real intellectuals.

There is no way the GOP base would accept Canadian immigration policies given their inability to compete given a playing field that is even now tilted heavily in their favour.

America's inability to adapt since Reagan can be attributed to a political system that handicaps cities and their diversity and puts old ignorant men in charge.

What this article fails to mention is that Adrienne Clarkson the Hong Kong born Governor General is one of the World's leading intellectuals.

Her latest books on the immigrant experience are a must read. Flag

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McG Earth 6 minutes ago A US immigration policy to establish a plutocracy that is ultimately self-defeating? "Ruth"less policies aren't smart. Duh! Short-sighted, stupid are the accurate descriptors. Instead, strike the necessary balance that ALSO accounts for vital contributions of hands-on service. Support admitting those who will harvest produce, lay concrete, drive, repair, carpent-wire-plumb-paint homes, cook, wash dishes, clean floors & bathrooms, child & elder care, and myriad other jobs that will not be filled when college grads are preferred. Flag

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Meg Ulmes Troy, Ohio 6 minutes ago Canada continues to look better and better to me as a country in which I may want to live soon. We are so on the wrong track here in so many ways. These last five months have been brutal and I expect the rest of the year to be just as ugly. O Canada! Flag

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rangiroa california 6 minutes ago Republicans want the cheap labor for agriculture and food/hospitality services and Dems want the cheap unquestioning votes of immigrants. Nothing is gonna change anytime soon. Flag

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JMarksbury Palm Springs 6 minutes ago While you are at it (BTW great article) would you please explain how Canada turned out so well and America has bombed? We both started out with English roots. And their climate is worse than ours. Was it slavery? The French influence? A parliamentary form of government? I really would like to know. Flag

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Dave Orlando, FL 6 minutes ago So according to this author my great grandparents would not have made the cut since they were uneducated and unskilled Jews from what is now Ukraine who left during the Russian Revolution. Family reunification is perfectly acceptable to me seeing as most immigrants are fleeing extremely volatile and unstable nation's. I put morality before profit and not to mention unskilled non-professional immigrants often have kids that climb the economic ladder and become skilled professionals. Flag

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RS Philly 6 minutes ago Yes.

Our immigration policy should based on what's best for our country and not what's best for a future would-be immigrant.

Trump and all Republicans agree.

America First! Flag

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sjaco N. Nevada 6 minutes ago Such dishonesty, is the author intentionally obtuse, or just obtuse? Trump and most of us are not in any way opposed to LEGAL immigration. On the other hand we believe ILLEGAL immigration is out of hand and a danger to standards of living, as well as our democracy.



The US already has 325 million people, it is not unreasonable nor is it racist to limit that number, we don't have infinite resources to support unlimited ILLEGAL immigration. Flag

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Frank Baudino Aptos, CA 6 minutes ago Americans are oddly suspicious of intellectual ability and education. Presidential candidates typically dumb down their language on the campaign trail.



"Give me a president I can have a beer with."



And Trump. Flag

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Steve Birmingham, UK 6 minutes ago Interesting piece but it is factually wrong to say that "[l]ast year, Canada admitted more than 320,000 newcomers — the most on record." The link itself points out that it was the highest total since 1971. The record number of immigrants in a year actually occurred in 1912 with over 400,000 people arriving in a Canada that had just over 7 million people in total. Flag

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toomanycrayons today 6 minutes ago "Canadians are a modest, unassuming lot, used to being overlooked and overshadowed. They won’t mind keeping his secret."



Why would Canadians want to broadcast their government's policy of strip-mining other countries of their intellectual capital? Trump, like pinko Canadians, is OK with other people carrying the cost. It makes him smart. One of our leading socialists years ago called it socialism for the rich. Nice, and naive start with the same letter. Keep your head up, is another Canadianism, eh? Flag

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blackmamba IL 6 minutes ago Young Mr. Justin Trudeau at 45 years old has more governing political nation state executive and legislative talent, smarts, wisdom and experience than Mr. Trump and his Cabinet and White House staff combined.



Canada has accepted over twice as many Syrian refugees as America. Steve Jobs biological father was a Syrian Arab Muslim American immigrant from Homs.



Turkey has taken 4 million Syrian refugees and Germany has taken about a million refugees. America would have to admit 4x those numbers to match the humble humane empathy of those two nations.



Because the American invasion and occupation of Iraq based upon lies about Iraqi WMD's and an Iraqi connection to 9/11 began this massive Mideast mess, America and Americans should be honor bound to accept not only the best and the brightest but the most desperate and needy families. America does not need any more Czech nor Slovenian female models. Flag

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CJ Edgewater, NJ 8 minutes ago There obviously is a philosophical difference between 2 policies. Whether US should adopt what can be described as (sorry if a little harsh) 'we'll just take the best and not worry about others', I will not discuss.



If anyone in the white house is smart enough, they should recognize this is an approach which can in principle split Democrats and get something achieved, instead of repealing Obamacare, tax "reform" etc. But then again, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that all Republicans ever want to do is cutting taxes for the rich... Flag

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SCA NH 10 minutes ago Now tell me who can afford to buy a nice (not palatial, nice) home in Vancouver these days. Emigrants from Hong Kong and from mainland China have transformed the city and put it mostly out of reach of the children of those who were born there.



As in New York, foreign money looking for a safe place to park itself invests in real estate and jacks up the market.



Canadians aren't as happy about all this as you'd like us to think. Flag

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David Canada 16 minutes ago I am Canadian and Tepperman's comments ring true. However, I am increasingly concerned for the true refugees of the world, who bring little to the table other than a pledge to do their best in the future. And I worry for the countries of origin of these "super immigrants". All of the strengths and advantages we gained in the west are losses to the countries of origin. Just as we continue to accept increasing number of skilled immigrants we need to increase our foreign aid by a considerable margin. Flag

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Susan Washington, DC 16 minutes ago This article is as troubling as the recent SCOTUS agreement to review Trump's travel "ban". Let's hope the Associate Justices read this Opinion and in their exclusions to the ban include those refugees who pass the 2 year vetting process conducted by the IOM and our own Department of State. If this is not done, quid pro quo the US should increase funding to countries like Greece that are sheltering those refugees. Flag

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Thom Resney Oakville Ontario 21 minutes ago Hey, I thought it was Americans who had an accent :-)



Seriously though, it isn't always a bed of roses here in the Great White North. Often, resources and preferential treatment are given to immigrants, leaving Canadian-born graduates behind. (My son is 28, has a Masters from the best university in Canada, is one of the hardest working people I know and can't find a full time job - he is really trying).



There is a seething resentment building. Flag

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formerpolitician Toronto 22 minutes ago Canada made the decision to increase immigration to 0.6% of the population in 1986 (the highest sustained immigration in the world). The target has been reached in all but 2 of the last 30 years.



The decision to concentrate on independent immigration above family classes was made at the same time - with a bias towards accommodating future refugee programmes as part of the immigration objective (especially community sponsored refugees).



The sole factual flaw in the article was to state that Canada's recent immigration was the highest ever. Not so! Canada took in more than 300,000 immigrants in each of the 3 years immediately before WW I (when the total population was only in the 10 million range)!



BTW. the 1986 decision came after an analysis of how to finance the national pension plans (Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan) when we could see costs spiralling to an "unacceptable" level by 2020 (i.e. about now!) as well as Canada's national health care costs. We felt young vibrant immigrant families could both expand the economy and provide a tax / contribution base to stabilize pension and medical care costs. So it has turned out - to the extend that the current government is considering further increasing the immigration targets. Flag

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Kristine Illinois 22 minutes ago Sounds good but then I consider my mom's family -- two uneducated adults with three children none of whom spoke English and who arrived in the United States in 1950 owing money for their passage. Success followed thanks in large part to a Fortune 500 company that took a chance on a poor immigrant and gave him a job in the company mailroom with great benefits and stock grants (yes stock grants) while he went to English classes at night.



The family would have had zero points under the Canadian system. Flag

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Martha Plaine

26 minutes ago Canada's system can be cruel and slow: The widowed 93 year old mother of a friend of ours - from Kenya - had to wait more than 5 years to get legal status to remain here in Ottawa with her daughter. During that time the elderly mother had to pay for all health expenses out of pocket and she lived in fear that she could be sent back to Kenya where she had not a single relative. Eventually the mother got her landed immigrant papers - after tens of thousands of dollars spent for health and legal expenses and much worry. Flag

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