Who does immigration really benefit?

A Royal Bank of Canada report this morning points out the following about immigrants: 

- 40 percent or more have a bachelor's degree or better, compared to 17 percent of Canadian-born 

- immigrants' salaries are on average 21 percent lower than they should be, and are over 50 percent lower for recent immigrants 

- immigrants have a higher unemployment rate than Canadian-born, despite the fact that the rate should be lower because of several factors 

Quite recently, James Bissett (former executive director of the Canadian Immigration Service and a former Canadian ambassador) called our current rationale for high levels of immigration a complete myth, stating that immigration will not help the economy and the labour force, and will not ameliorate the problems created by an aging population.  A study released by the Fraser Institute (that bastion of socialist thinking) asserts that immigrants, or at least some cohorts of immigrants, actually cost the country billions of dollars more in social programs than they pay in taxes. 

Cynics claim that high levels of immigration were entrenched and funded along with multiculturalism in an effort by parties in power to buy the ethnic vote. As well, they point to Vancouver and other cities as cultural enclaves, rather than as intermingling of different cultures. The wage disparity may explain why big business is in favour of more immigration, as it may help to keep wages down in general. And finally on this point, it is often pointed out that these cultures we value (and they are indeed valuable) developed in relative isolation from each other - usually geographical isolation; this experiment of trying to mix cultures yet somehow preserve them may in fact backfire in many ways. 

Yet, despite the trouble beneath the surface, Canada's high level of immigration is rarely questioned, and critiques of multiculturalism seem to be completely off the radar. 

Unfortunately, people who raise these issues, even simply as points of discussion, are often the targets of vicious verbal attacks, typically with the words "bigot" and "racist" thrown in liberally. I'm sure that at least one of those words came to mind almost immediately for most people who are reading this - a typical knee-jerk reaction, so you are not alone. 

It appears, though, that the real racism occurs in the workplace, where immigrants are not as equal as their Canadian peers. 

But at a time when we already have many unemployed and trainable Canadians, why are we not focusing instead on a comprehensive, national training policy which looks at labour forecasts and helps to prepare Canadians for the jobs of the future? Would this not make better economic sense? Whatever happened to looking after our own? 

Back to that RBC report, it is perhaps easy to understand why big business and their pocket puppet Mr. Harper want the current situation to continue. The report points out that, if immigrants on average were paid as much as their Canadian peers, it could be worth up to about 30 billion dollars to the Canadian economy. Apparently, Milton Friedman is alive and well in Canada, and determined to maximize returns to shareholders rather than pay higher wages and benefits to skilled employees. 

Disclaimer: this is a personal opinion piece, and is not Green Party policy.