Justin Trudeau showing off his housing plan (AI image)
Here are net migration numbers for the developed english-speaking countries from June 2022-June 2023:
- USA +1,138,989 (+3.4)
- Canada +1,131,181 (+28.6)
- UK +672,000 (+10.0)
- Australia +518,087 (+19.7)
- NZ +101,518 (+19.6)
These numbers are high everywhere but in Canada the rate is insane. Remember that Canada has roughly one-tenth the population of the USA and it’s adding immigrants at the same pace. The numbers are also unsustainable in the Australian and New Zealand and have created something of a political crisis in the UK.
It’s useful to break down the number of immigrants by 1000 people who already live in the country:
- USA +3.4
- Canada +28.6
- UK +10.0
- Australia +19.7
- NZ +19.6
What’s even crazier is that Canadian immigration is accelerating. In the third quarter of this year alone, the population expanded by 430,000 — more than 1%.
This is in a country which is blessed with the second-largest land mass but where it’s utterly impossible to get anything built in a reasonable time frame. To match this level of growth, Canada would need to build 680,000 homes per year. The current pace is 212,000.
By increasing the population by 4% per year, Canada is growing GDP with population alone but per-capita GDP is shrinking and has been stagnant since 2016.
These numbers have turned Canadians against immigration and deeply against Prime Minister Trudeau.