Immigration in Canada was long a relatively depoliticized issue. By ramping up immigration numbers without regard for the consequences, and by dismissing all legitimate concerns, the Trudeau Government could bring about an era of division over the issue.
By now, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the following clip of two rival Eritrean groups fighting in Calgary:
“WTF is going on in northeast Calgary??
150 people of Eritean rival groups armed with sticks and throwing rocks at each other with disregard to property, police or anyone and anything else.
No a peep from YYC’s Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
No a peep from Liberal MP George Chahal.”
WTF is going on in northeast Calgary??
150 people of Eritean rival groups armed with sticks and throwing rocks at each other with disregard to property, police or anyone and anything else.
No a peep from YYC's Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
No a peep from Liberal MP George Chahal.#yyccc pic.twitter.com/hAcaEz8e5G— Kirk Lubimov (@KirkLubimov) September 3, 2023
The two groups were fighting over a political dispute in Eritrea:
“A violent clash in Falconridge between Eritrean groups with conflicting views about their home country’s politics was dangerous and has taken a toll on the community, according to the city councillor who represents the area.
“There has to be consequences,” Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal told Postmedia.
Police responded Saturday to reports of a large, violent conflict at the Falconridge Plaza shopping centre outside of the Magnolia Banquet Hall. Officers descended on the area between McKnight Boulevard and Castleridge Drive to separate the two groups, comprising roughly 150 people, some of whom were using sticks, rocks and bats as weapons. Ten people were hospitalized with minor injuries.”
While the clip is shocking in and of itself, it comes as concern over the issue of immigration has grown dramatically.
This is often what happens when an issue is bubbling under the surface yet isn’t ‘supposed’ to be discussed due to political correctness. One moment – often a visually striking moment – can tip the discussion out into the open.
Additionally, since many Canadian financial institutions, businesses, and economists have been raising concerns over the economic impact of immigration, it is now abundantly clear that the conversation over Canada’s immigration levels will not be held down forever.
And this is a good thing. In a truly open and democratic country, issues like immigration must be open to discussion. Immigration has a big impact on our country, and our citizens must be able to have their voices heard.
Division: The Liberal fallback
Now, while a rational discussion of immigration would be ideal, the Liberals are likely to do everything they can to turn the discussion in a more divisive direction.
Having failed to stop the issue from being discussed, the Liberals and Liberal-friendly media outlets will fallback on the strategy of division.
In fact, I believe that is already what the Liberals are trying to do.
You’ll notice that whenever they talk about immigration, the Liberals make a point of calling for even more increases. It’s the same way they respond to criticism of the carbon tax. Trudeau repeatedly says Canada “must move even faster” on climate, and the Liberal response to immigration concerns is similar.
This is an attempt to make the issue as divisive as possible. Rather than listening to legitimate concerns over Canada’s ability to handle the rapid influx by reducing immigration levels, the Liberals push for more and more immigration.
The Liberals have also sought to downplay the notion of any kind of unifying Canadian identity. Rather than emphasize that Canada is built on the idea of Western civilization like individual rights, limits on state power, freedom religion, democracy, and freedom of speech, Trudeau has often demonized Canadian history while elevating authoritarian governments like China with values diametrically opposed to the West.
Unsurprisingly, if a country fails to make a case for why it has values worth adopting and promoting, some will fill the vacuum with the conflicts of the countries they left behind.
More broadly, what the Liberals are doing now as they get more desperate is trying to provoke anti-immigration sentiment, look for the most extreme manifestation of that sentiment, and then claim that that extreme manifestation represents all opposition to their immigration policies.
The Liberals would rather heighten divisions for political benefit, than moderate their positions whatsoever.
This is what the Trudeau government did on vaccine mandates. At a time when many peer nations were pulling back from restrictions and mandates, Trudeau ‘moved even faster’ and provoked national divisions in order to narrowly win the 2021 election.
With he and his party even more desperate, does anyone doubt Trudeau will try the same thing on immigration?
What makes this all the more disappointing is that Canada had a well-managed, effective, and largely depoliticized immigration system. The issue wasn’t divisive. And not because discussion was being artificially suppressed, but because there was legitimate widespread support for the immigration system.
Under both the pre-Trudeau Liberals and the Harper Conservatives, Canada’s immigration system managed to balance the needs of a country with an aging population, a need for young-skilled workers, the importance of English/French language skills for immigration, and a favourable balance in terms of age and ability to contribute.
While there were the usual localized tensions and examples of some who struggled/choose not to integrate, the system as a whole worked quite well.
But in his desperation for a new wedge issue and his reckless desire to undo the foundations of Canada’s success, Trudeau has massively increased Canada’s immigration levels at a time when Canada simply cannot handle such a large influx.
While Trudeau will inevitably try to blame a divisive immigration debate on the Conservatives, the truth is that he and the Liberals took a successful system and broke it, and thus they must bear responsibility for the consequences of doing so.
Spencer Fernando
