Jamie Sarkonak: Carney's border bill is bracing Canada for more Liberal neglect
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Now, India dominates the influx of foreigners to Canada, making up 27 per cent of new permanent residents in 2022, and 45 per cent of international students. It also comprises 22 per cent of temporary foreign workers. The downsides of this are wide-ranging, including the risk of cultural enclaves, as well as the proliferation of organized crime and exploitation thanks to the difficulty in tracing cross-border networks and investigating through language barriers. A country cap of, say 10 to 15 per cent — perhaps less, to make up for past years — wouldn't solve everything, but it would help.
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The government's new open-minded approach to information sharing is another point of optimism — perhaps it could lead to better enforcement, and maybe, just maybe, greater ability for police to disclose the citizenship status of non-citizens charged with crimes. Canadians should have the right to know whether that 'Brampton man' charged with sexually assaulting a girl in a park was here by birthright, or was welcomed by an immigration system designed by politicians who are ultimately accountable to the public.
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As for the regulation of street drugs, Bill C-2 would also tighten our lax rules on ingredients — also called precursor chemicals — which have made this country a convenient staging ground for illicit manufacturing. It's about time.
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Any optimism for this bill, however, can't be felt without doubt. Any provision that allows cabinet to make rules on a general subject remains vulnerable to not being acted upon at all, which means we may never see source-country limits. And regardless of a few more proposed restrictions on asylum, Carney's overall immigration plan is one that will largely maintain Trudeau-era intake numbers, leaving Canada an even more crowded place.
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Also clouding the bill is a new regime for obtaining internet service provider information, which is loaded with a slew of privacy-infringing procedures, and its new border-security related powers at sea, whose purpose might be to simply count more of the coast guard's budget towards our NATO obligations.
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One gets the impression that Carney is following in the footsteps of his British counterpart, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is now taking a supposed hatchet to immigration in response to the population shock that's been hitting the United Kingdom for at least a decade now. But there, both Reform and Conservative critics believe Starmer's plan doesn't match the scale of the problem.
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In Canada, we seem to be in a similar spot. The left now admits that immigration needs limits, and those in charge are striking a tougher tone to match the concerns of the people. If deployed effectively, it could be a lot of help — but if Bill C-2 turns out to be a mostly aesthetic exercise, our ship is going to continue sinking.
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