Inflation Nation the struggle for some Canadians to keep up with Rising food and housing costs let's recap 2024 what happened in Canada how it affected Canada's immigration policy new rules and discuss what to expect next year the strength of the Canadian dollar has slipped to its lowest level in 5 years and inflation made everyday groceries feel like luxury items forcing nearly 2 million Canadians start using food bank meanwhile the housing crisis deepened the majority of Canadians are concerned the national housing crisis is affecting their health and quality of life home ownership rates once a point
of pride of Canadians dropped below 66% that's down from 69% at its peak just a decade ago for younger Canadians it got even worse less than 40% of those under 35 could afford a home this number fueled frustration and despair especially in major cities where the dream of owning a home has become completely out of reach you would have to make over $300,000 a year as a household just to qualify for buying a home this economic squeeze set the stage for growing public outrage we are here today because Canada is broken our kindness and generosity
has given way to naivity and weakness we do not want to be taken advantage of tricked lied to and sold out by those we trusted to lead us housing costs have doubled Food Bank use have doubled fueled by the opposition party immigration got in the spotlight as the first thing to blame for all the Canada's problems well immigration and the current government housing prices immigration's fault overbent Healthcare immigration's fault Canada's broken true do fault you get the point for the first time in decades Canadians have turned against immigration polls showed that over 60% of Canadians
thought that we were taking in too many immigrants and that's in the country known for its welcoming policies to immigration so let's talk about Canada's immigration this is the number of immigrants annually since the 2000s the numbers typically held under 300,000 and started going up just 2 years before the pandemic and then the pandemic happened but then it picked up again and a lot more aggressively you see that in 2023 Canada admitted a record 471000 new permanent residents accounting for 1.2% of the total population now that's just the part of the story because if we
look at the real population growth it was more like a million people last year so who are the other 600k of people good question that's where thing got out of control you see there are different ways for countries to fight recession and recession risk was what Canada was facing just like every other country after the pandemic we are not economists so we won't pretend to be ones so we'll only share what makes sense to us and likely most of you nearly 3.5 million Canadians lost jobs retirements increased by 30% during the pandemic years Canada issued
stimulus checks which only fueled inflation suddenly people started choosing unemployment and stimulus payments over going to work and having a salary especially if they worked minimum wage jobs Canada was facing a risk of recession primarily fueled by labor shortages so the Canadian government thought what if we brought more young people from the developing world who are eager and motivated to work foreign workers are less picky than Canadians and are willing to work minimum wage they thought besides we do need more tax dollars than ever to finance all the pensions they thought good idea what if
we financed our country through the big fat wallets of Rich parents of international students International students will will bring a lot of cash and spend 5x more than domestic students on tuition fees that's good tax revenue they [Music] thought in 2022 International students spent was nearly $40 billion contributing about 30 billion to the nation's GDP not bad right so the stream of foreign labor and international students more than doubled our official immigration numbers and targets by the end of 2023 Canada's crossed 40 million in population which kind of an exciting thing for a country of
this size and age that's a 3% growth rate last year the fastest rate since 1957 from the government's standpoint this was their way to avoid recession boost the economy and fill up all the labor shortages we had and it kind of worked Canada did seemingly avoid recession labor shortages were seemingly filled all good right not really in 2024 Canada's productivity declin by 6% marking the third consecutive year of decline this downturn is concerning especially when compared to the8 average productivity growth among oecd countries during the same period despite adding more workers to the economy Canada's
output per worker dropped this suggests that while immigration helped fill jobs it didn't address underlying issues such as underinvestment in technology overinflated real estate out ated infrastructure and stagnant wages immigration was a Band-Aid on the problem that Canada had way before the pandemic but chose to ignore with an increased immigration the infrastructure started crumbling at a scary Pace busted water feeder M shutting down the Trans Canada the broken pipe one of Calgary's main sources of water in a matter of minutes parts of Toronto became unrecognizable and while the cause of these disasters is natural it
could have been avoid it if there was adequate planning maintenance and Engineering with an influx of people rent and home prices started Rising reaching an alltime high putting Canada in the list of countries with the most expensive real estate in the world immigrants who are used to poor living conditions resorted to living in unmaintained basements sometimes with a dozen of Roommates completely ruining living conditions the Healthcare System didn't even have a chance to recover from the brutal pmic era and it suddenly has to deal with not just the rapidly aging population but an additional 1.5
million population young doctors already don't find working in Canada attractive and many end up going to the US to practice so doctors and nurse shortage led to Long waiting times and staff burnout more demand for goods and services drove up prices for nearly anything in Canada Canadian households are now the most indebted country in G7 mainly due to more mortgage and Consumer Debt that's right Canadians owe more money than they earn the Canadian government pretty much opened the gates to let more migrants flow in the country and when you open the gates and your filters
are off all sorts of stuff Flows In uncontrolled immigration fueled a wave of scams and system abuse you could come to Canada just by paying a couple of thousand dollars under a temporary work permit program some Refugee programs attracted opportunistic individuals who came to Canada only to collect their paychecks and go back to their country with the uncontrolled immigration and missing checks and balances we saw an influx of broadly Asian population in Canada when there is a sudden injection of a foreign culture in a country it doesn't go unnoticed while each of us bring our
Rich cultures and languages and Customs it adds to the vibrant tapestry of Canadian Society successful cultural immersion requires a balance where newcomers are encouraged to preserve their Heritage while also respect and end in embracing the Canadian culture and laws however when cultural integration happens too quickly or without adequate systems in place to support it it leads to tensions and poop on the beach all this has led to a public outrage people feel poor unhappy unhealthy and just plain disregarded Canadians report more and more that they feel that the government treats immigrants better than them if
you think of it that's really really bad it leads to an even higher level of disengagement productivity loss and in the worst case chor there's been a record amount of Canadians leaving the country in the recent years looking for a lower cost of living and more desirable quality of life reports have shown that nearly 30% of newcomers are returning to their home country after just a few years in 2024 the public pressure and the crumbling infrastructure finally Force the government into tough decisions and will share at the end our thoughts on whether we think it
helps or makes things worse it's reducing permanent immigration Levels by at least 20% cutting temporary immigrant numbers by nearly 500,000 a year this is a huge about face for the liberal government they basically hit pause on the system for for three years it's just unbelievable dramatic 2024 has seen some of the most radical immigration reforms at both Federal and provincial levels aiming to address economic challenges housing shortages and public concerns the federal government announced a 20% decrease in permanent resident admissions adjusting targets and gradually reducing them over the next 3 years that means that a
big bulk of the additional 500 to 800,000 of foreign workers or International students who hope to eventually get permanent residence here won't get it up until now there have never been caps on temporary residents so we have caps now for the first time this includes International students and foreign workers it's meant to manage population growth and alleviate pressure on housing and public services that's nearly a 50% reduction compared to the recent Year's numbers Canada's temporary population will decrease over the next few years as significantly more temporary residents will also transition to PR or will be
forced to leave the country a 2-year intake cap on international student study permits was introduced reducing the number of permits issued to 437 ,000 for 2025 and 2026 that's at least 300K less than last year postgraduate work permit eligibility which used to be automatic no matter the program you study is now tied to fields of study aligned with Canada's labor market needs students who study degrees considered useless for the Canadian labor shortages May no longer be eligible for PGW piece and starting November 1st 2024 International students applying for PGW P must meet specific language proficiency
standards effective November this year the starting hourly wage for workers entering Canada through the high wage stream was raised to 20% above the median wage in the applicable Province or territory this adjustment aims to ensure that the employment of temporary foreign workers does not suppress wages for Canadian workers the government also reinstated a 10% Cup on the proportion of low wage temporary foreign workers that employers can hire applicable across Canada exceptions are made for Employers in healthc care construction and food processing sectors where a 20% cap is permitted to address critical labor shortages all lmia
approved for low-wage positions are also now limited to maximum duration of one year instead of two most provinces are now revisiting their own provincial nominee programs historically a provincial Nomine program was known to be an easiest and more accessible way to immigrate to Canada not anymore Quebec has announced suspension of two permanent immigration programs the regular skilled worker program and The Graduate stream of the Quebec experience program effective until June 30th next year all that to manage the province's capacity to integrate New Commerce at the same time frankophone immigration will pick up amounting for up
to 10% of All Temporary residents over the next 3 years Ontario has post some of its provincial programs like the entrepreneur stream NBC established Regional immigration quot that are tied directly to the housing availability in the province these are some of the biggest immigration reforms seen in decades in Canada let us know if you've missed something important on one hand this is great the government has finally heard the cry for help and did something about it this is good and honestly I don't think that they've had a choice if they want to stand at least
the slightest chance in the upcoming elections but on the flip side are these reform going to substantially improve the Canadian economy or the life of Canadians I'm not entirely sure let's take a look at the summary of pros and cons from the experts first point is that immigration reform will help address the infrastructure strain the benefit here is that by reducing immigration the government alleviates pressure on housing health care and other public services the drawback is that reducing overall immigration and temporary foreign worker numbers May exacerbate shortages in sectors like agriculture health Healthcare and construction
immigration slows down but growth in aging population does not neither does the need to improve our infrastructure and build new houses besides we're already seeing an increase in Asylum claims that's one way to bypass immigration caps personally I tend to agree with the drawbacks more than with the benefits reducing immigration in isolation without doing additional reforms of how other systems function and grow will likely hinder economic progress this should be a full combination of combined efforts I think we should have a look into improving our infrastructure and build more housing now the question is do
we have enough labor or expertise to do that or how about the outdated zoning laws and building promise that still take painfully long and expensive to expedite construction the next point is immigration reform will help repair the damaged relationship between the government and the people this one is the most obvious one we live in a Democratic Society and it is expected by the people that the government does what the majority wants and if it doesn't people get angry the benefit of this is that by reducing immigration the government aligns with the majority of the Canadian
sentiment in hopes to improve the public trust in the said government however some critics say that this is a short-sighted decision meant to do nothing but to elevate the already failing ratings of the current government in power again let's look at why our immigration skyrocketed which is economic stimulus and filling labor shortages reducing immigration will just unmask underlying economic and labor issues since immigration accounts for nearly 100% of the country's labor force growth we need a plan on how to tackle our fundamental economic weaknesses along with the immigration reform don't forget the point about how
low productivity of Canadian labor is and poor technological development cutting immigration numbers will not fix that and honestly sometimes the role of the government is to make unpopular decisions let's be real most of us lack the education the knowledge and the foresight of what effects some of our desires and wishes we have for the years to come so personally I think that the government is blindly trying to please the population and it's ignoring the after effect which is likely going to be up to the new government to solve if liberals don't get reelected I'm thinking
about it as a trap that the current government is setting up for the future government to deal with next is international student reform will optimize quality over quantity linking international student work permits and postgraduation eligibility to in demand Fields ensures that the labor market benefits from targeted skills on the flip side colleges and universities will face budget deficits and job Cuts let's be real most International students come to Canada in hopes to get Canadian permanent residency that is why it's been rather popular among students to find the cheapest and the easiest program program in Canada
get your study permit and eventually work towards qualifying for PR the immigration path from student to PR is often easier than the path from skilled Foreigner to PR provided you have the money of course so this reform is meant to improve the quality of international students and make sure that what they study is aligned with our labor market needs honestly I don't really see any drawbacks to this specific reform I'm just surprised that it hasn't been done earlier I also think it's a good thing that they're forcing language assessments to qualify for pgwp I know
that this decision has faced a lot of backlash from the international student Community but I think overall this thing is good and this is why when I went to University I had a handful of international students in my class and I almost always had at least one international students in my project group and you know what was the most frustrating thing most could barely speak or understand English even though they were second or even third year students so so many of them were just a dead weight on the project because they just weren't helpful so
as someone whove experienced working with students with poor English I personally fully support the language requirements to qualify for pgwp well it makes sense cuz if your English sucks how can you even pass a job interview let alone be a productive worker the new rules also refocus immigration to encourage regional growth the benefit here is that new reforms focus on spreading immigration to underrepresented Regions to prevent overcrowding in and urban centers which will fuel more Economic Development and hopefully Elevate region desirability however some may argue that there is a reason why people don't go to
less populated regions specifically due to lack of work opportunities adequate support resources and infrastructure it may be hard for newcomers to integrate into smaller community that are known to be more tight and sometimes less accepted for foreigners I think attracting more people to less popular regions is great we've been long saying that on this channel there are so many hidden gems all around Canada outside of the rundown top five cities we will link a playlist of some of the great affordable cities up here cost of living is a lot more reasonable there and opportunities can
still be plenty if you are in the in demand field or are planning to build your own business next temporary foreign worker program limitations will help fight fraud and wage suppression reforms to the temporary foreign worker program can curb exploitative practices by unscrupulous employers and Consultants gaps on low wage streams address over Reliance on cheap labor and wage suppression this encourages employers to invest in training local workers and adopt long-term and sustainable hiring practices however while these reforms address fraud and wage issues they could inadvertently reduce access to foreign labor in sectors that rely heavily
on temporary foreign workers such as agriculture food processing and caregiving some businesses say that they can only survive survive thanks to the availability of cheap labor reducing access to it will hurt many small businesses I personally think that it's a net positive more oversight for the program is better to reduce abuse now let's not expect that abuse disappears there will always be bad actors and for every rule there will always be someone who wants to break it so the question is how well will this program be monitored and control I do empathize with the small
businesses who may lose money by losing cheap labor but I look at it as a way to force these businesses into investing into technology efficiency and better training you can't always rely on cheap labor that just doesn't make a business successful this was a brief overview of the immigration policies and potential effects of it we are immigrants ourselves and generally I think that uncontrolled immigration over the last few years is unacceptable it's simply unfair to most skilled immigrants who worked really hard for years just to get to and succeed in Canada it also undermines the
overall perception of the well- intented immigrants those immigrants who are sincerely here to assimilate and make a difference in this country in the last years immigration to Canada has become way too easy attracting a lot of low commitment individuals who have no interest in building their life here or integrating into society most are here just to milk Canada and send money back home or use it as a stepping stone to get to the US that's not acceptable we would like to see can Canada become pickier about who it lets in and maybe some deportations are
due as well we also think that Canada should be strictor about newcomers students or temporary workers who break the law you break the law you're out there is never a shortage of Bad actors there is a shortage of good hardworking people immigration should not be easy it's a difficult process physically and mentally it's like a litmos test in my experience immigrants who've worked the hardest to come and stay here are also folks who have succeeded the most and added the most value to the Canadian economy by either starting a successful business helping other newcomers succeed
or achieving top positions in Canada's largest companies when you come to the country and expect everything be brought to you on a silver plate everything from good medicine to job opportunities and social benefits all while you don't even bother learning the language or understanding the local Norms I don't think you deserve to be here look Canada was built on immigration and from the business standpoint we understand the role of low skill and low wage in the growth of the economy however over Reliance on immigration has slightly ruined Canada it made Canada complacent complacency is the
biggest epidemic in this country by beefing up economic numbers through bringing in immigrant cash here Canada got lazy it's like easy money like a drug numbers were up people didn't complain plan all good right that allowed the government to sit back and do their minimum it allowed Canadian workers to sit back and relax while letting immigrants work hard and spin their wheels this led to massive productivity drops productivity didn't plumet just in the last few years it was dropping since early 2000s The Last 5 Years have just made it a lot more obvious we have
reached the Tipping Point Canada historically underinvested into technology research and development training and upscaling it overinvestment labor the easiest and cheapest way to boost economic growth now Canada looks like a first world country but do we operate like one time will tell but I have faith in Canada let us know your thoughts on this we tried to cram a lot of information on this video so we probably missed a thing or two so let us know what we've missed and your thoughts on on this topic thank you for watching share this video with your friends
and happy holidays take care w [Music]
