Close Reading

I was the lawyer invited to this interview, and after reading some comments celebrating the end of the PEQ, I feel the need to clarify a few things. The people affected by this are not “abusing the system.” this was the program for people that came here legally and are working. To qualify for the PEQ, they had to be working full time, they pay taxes, they speak the language. They’re fixing our roads, keeping hospitals running, welding, machining, doing the jobs most of us take for granted every single day. The hard truth is that Canadians have stopped having enough children, and we simply don’t have enough young people with the skills to fill these roles. Yes, we absolutely should invest more in education and trade programs for our youth — my employer clients are begging young people to become mechanics, welders, skilled workers, often in the regions. Most don’t take those jobs, and even when they do, training takes two to three years. Our industries need people now, or parts of the economy will stall, and that affects all of us as Quebecers and Canadians. These workers are not asking for charity. They are already on the front lines keeping key sectors alive. Ending programs like the PEQ doesn’t punish “illegals” or “free riders”; it punishes people who are already integrated, working, and contributing to the society we all share. Also, all they are asking is for the new rules to not be applied to them retroactively, only for those coming new into the country, otherwise it is rug pulling those already here that played by the rules, and when the government does it to us we don't like, on principle of fairness, whatever you think of the numbers, too high too low, doesn't matters, it is the least we can all get behind as humans.

Absolutely they don't pay taxes .

I am a new permanent resident in Canada. This video is very true regarding our integration. You are absolutely right. Newcomers must integrate, as it is the beginning of a new life in a new environment. What I do not fully agree with is when you complain about the social benefits given by the government to newcomers. It is not free money; we will pay it back later in taxes. We cannot build life projects depending on these benefits. Ask each newcomer if they are satisfied with these benefits rather than a good job. We want to contribute to the economy of this beautiful country. For example, I came to Canada with specific goals, including starting an IT company, which was difficult to achieve at home due to lack of opportunities. So, don't blame immigrants too much; in my opinion, responsibilities should be shared among all of us, including the government.

It's not even just in Brampton even 1 to 2 hours away immigrant and international students take all customer service jobs to the point that Canadians can barely get hired into these roles because we have expectations and rights that we worked for and I've seen these immigrants willing to work for less than legal minimum wage and they do not stand up for themselves or work towards having any shared rights. In addition many politicians on both sides of the aisle are rental landlords so only stand to profit from low rental vacancies and cramming as many people into a small space as possible. They've also cut funding to a lot of post-secondary institutions who rely on inflating tuition cost for international students. At my current role on a team of 15 people plus one manager there are only three white people, born and raised Canadians. The rest are all Indians including the manager and will frequently talk amongst themselves loudly in Punjabi while we're trying to serve customers in the English language. That's actually against policy but Canadians are so outnumbered by immigrants and specifically Indians in this place that it never gets enforced properly. I've never been anti-immigration but it's gotten so bad in Canada especially in places like Ontario that I'm now against it and will tell anyone regardless of their skin color to avoid immigrating here. I've been on a wait list for a doctor for over 11 years, I know people who have died from cancer due to delayed referrals due to long wait list for additional screening, it's insane and absolutely ridiculous especially considering the amount of taxes I currently pay and have paid my entire life as a born and raised Canadian.\n\nAlso it's absolutely true every single one is either taking or has taken post-secondary studies in business admin or management. We don't need more people in these fields we need Healthcare sector workers and not a single one that I've spoken with which again is quite a few studied anything related to medicine Healthcare nursing... not one.

Canada is not perfect by any means. Lots of room to improve things, and I absolutely love and appreciate Americans. Great folks. But, the fact that any person, rich or poor, no matter who it is, can go to the doctor as many times as they need to without getting a big bill. We do pay for little things. Like... sometimes you pay for crutches or special devices, but for the most part, you don't. It comes out of our taxes.\n\nPlus, couples get a year of maternity leave here. It can be split any way the couple likes. LIke... the mom or dad can have the whole year or they can split it up between them, part mom and part dad gets it. We have unemployment insurance we pay from our taxes, so if you get suddenly laid of from work, ,you get some money coming in for a while to tide you over until you find a new job. And the disabled can get disability coverage too.\n\nOf course, we do pay higher taxes for these things, but... I kinda like that everybody gets healthcare. NO, I'm not into Communism, but having social programs is great. And... um... we do have more education in Canada, and more avenues to get help with tuition.

The figures don't tell all of the story when it comes to physician salary comparisons and tax-to-GDP ratios, for instance. Truly, doctors in the US can earn a lot more, but they also have to spend a lot of that on legal indemnity insurance because the US is the home of spurious litigation. The availability of doctors in Canada being damaged by the attraction of the USA is just part of a global phenomenon - professionally-qualified people will go wherever the money is best, so less-developed nations lose medical staff to richer nations. The UK effectively steals a lot of medical staff from the Philippines and sub-Saharan Africa, for instance.\n\nI notice that the UK is listed just above Canada on the tax-to-GDP table, but government spending is waaaaaaay higher than that (more like 45% and heading for 50%) and honestly to my knowledge the UK has had tax-to-GDP figures above 40% for many years (even at its lowest during the past 50 years it's probably never dipped below 35%). I don't know where the figures in that table came from, but I bet that there are some shenanigans behind them. For instance, the UK personal taxation load is heavily weighted by taxes on goods, but big companies often pay very little tax themselves. Ireland is an even more extreme example of that phenomenon - I note their relatively-low placing on the tax-to-GDP table. Multinationals see Ireland as a tax haven these days.\nLet me be clear - I'm absolutely not a a fan of socialism and fully advocate for lower taxes and smaller Government. It's notable that countries with bigger Government (more socialism) tend to take more in taxes. The USA needs to be considered state by state as well due to the differing levels of socialism. High-taxing states contribute less per-capita to federal revenues, but also note that federal support programs tend to concentrate upon those same states. The loudest voices behind the begging bowl tend to be the most socialistic. It's all a big mess - the lack of transparency does not help the case for high-taxing Governments.\n\n\nLastly, considering the current governing dynasty in Canada, I could never live there. Trudeau is a nightmare totalitarian. The events of 2020+ showed some national leaders in a revealing light. Canada and New Zealand are now two countries I could never consider living in. The USA is not far behind in the league of opprobrium. Liberty is a rare thing these days.