What really fuels immigration?

Murray Dobbin - Toronto Star; October 2, 2005

The word out of Ottawa that the Liberal government intends to increase
immigration by 300,000 is a good news story that hides the bad. Canadians to
their credit strongly support immigration, especially when compared to
Americans. Seventy-three per cent of us have a favourable view, compared to
just 42 per cent of people in the United States.

There is obviously nothing wrong with increased immigration but we should be
aware of what’s actually driving it.

The immigration numbers aren’t being increased out of any altruistic goal of
enhancing our cultural diversity. It’s driven by the social impact of
Liberal economic policies. More immigration is needed because of a widely
predicted labour shortage, the result of the lowest fertility rate in
Canadian history (1.5 when 2.1 represents the replacement rate).

Economic globalization’s chickens are coming home to roost both in Canada
and in the nations of the global south. It has been called the race to the
bottom and as it implies, it is a race every worker loses.

While Canada is supposed to compete internationally based on its comparative
advantage, pressure from corporate lobbyists would have us compete by
lowering wages as well. They succeeded with Paul Martin as finance minister.
His policies of “labour flexibility” had the desired effect of stagnating
real wages for almost a decade.

The social consequences have been devastating. A Health Canada study has
described the pace of work in Canada "completely unsustainable." The
National Work-Life Conflict Study, released in July, 2002, revealed that in
1992, 38 per cent of the work force was "highly stressed." By 2002, that
number was 55 per cent. Family life is “virtually non-existent” said the
study, and families are delaying having children, and having fewer of them.

This is the consequence of a neo-liberal ideology that has turned common
sense on its head. Thirty years ago full employment and high wages were
societal goals and it was simply assumed that the economy served society at
large. Today there is no talk of full employment and Canada has the second
highest percentage of low wage jobs of any OECD country.

Neo-liberal conventional wisdom now poses the question: what is good for the
economy? The answer is maxed-out workers, vulnerable families and minimal
government (services). While Canadians sacrifice their health and family life in the
interests of “the economy” the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO work their
perverse market magic on the global south, reducing it to a source of raw
materials and cheap labour. The resulting desperation fuels the desire to
emigrate to the West.

Canada’s pursuit of global competitiveness thus includes “externalizing” the
costs of educating its work force.

We cut university funding and allow tuition fees for working and middle
class students to skyrocket, denying access to many. And then we poach the
educated people of the global south, (40 per cent of immigrants to Canada
have university degrees) robbing desperate countries of the people they need
to build modern societies. IMF and World Bank policies mean these countries
can’t afford to pay their own university graduates a decent salary.

Just because the federal government is unethical in poaching third world
graduates doesn’t mean it cannot also be incompetent. When graduates do
arrive here, welcomed because of their credentials, they too often find (their)
credentials are useless. Doctors and engineers end up driving cab in Toronto
or Montreal. And even when they do get work in their fields, immigrants
(even after 10 years here) receive pay well below that of their Canadian
counterparts - “labour flexibility” of a different colour.

So long as Canada supports the destructive policies of the World Bank, the
IMF and WTO we should open the door to those affected by these policies and
ensure they can actually work.

But most people in (the) developing world would prefer to stay in their own
countries provided they could make a decent living, enjoy reliable
government services and feel secure in their neighbourhoods. The global race
to the bottom makes that impossible. Maybe we should try imagining a race to
the top.

Murray Dobbin is a Vancouver journalist. His latest book is Paul Martin: CEO
for Canada?