Immigrants can drive economy’s recovery

Three months ago, Canada began closing its borders to protect itself from COVID-19. Today it needs to plan how to reopen the same borders to protect its economic recovery from the pandemic.

The reason is as simple as it is clear: We need more immigrants. But without a concerted effort on the part of the federal government, we won’t satisfy that need.

Ever since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed heavy restrictions on travel to Canada back in March, the usual and reliable stream of newcomers has slowed to a trickle. While Ottawa originally hoped to welcome 341,000 new permanent residents to Canada in 2020, we’ll be lucky if half that number arrives. And that’s virtually guaranteed to happen if the entry restrictions and the closing of our borders to all but essential travel continue all summer.

Some people may shrug and ask, “So what?” Extraordinary times demanded extraordinary measures, they’ll argue. Under the circumstances, the government was right to severely limit the number of people who entered the country — whether or not they might be infected with COVID-19.

We can’t disagree that the government did what it had to do at the time. But with the number of new COVID-19 cases in a gradual tailspin and the country emerging from lockdown, we must look ahead. Our economy is in shambles. The current best-case scenario is for the economy to shrink by 6.8 per cent this year — and that would be its worst performance since 1981.

To be sure, ramping up immigration over the last half of this year and into 2021 might seem counterintuitive. After all, the pandemic cost the jobs of an estimated 3.5 million people and slashed the hours of another 2.5 million. So why bring in hundreds of thousands of newcomers if the jobs aren’t there?

There’s an overwhelming agreement on the part of economists, however, that this dire hour is the exact moment we need more, not fewer, immigrants.

“If we have a prolonged stop (in immigration) that could really hurt us 10 years from now,” Andrew Agopsowicz, a senior economist at RBC Capital Markets, explains. “We need to be thinking about how we can turn our immigration system back on. … It’s such an important piece of our growth.”

We’ll second that. For decades, Canada’s economy has depended on immigrants to boost output and consumption. They’re a vital part of our labour force. Many arrive with impressive professional credentials and the kind of work experience our businesses crave.

Others perform jobs native-born Canadians often avoid. Just remember that newcomers make up a high proportion of the personal support workers who have been so essential throughout the pandemic. Immigrants create and sustain employment, too. Because they need a place to live, for instance, they juice our housing sector.

There’s another reason they’re so important. Immigrants tend to be younger than most Canadians. We’re a greying nation. As 9 million baby-boomers head into retirement over the next decade, the pressures on our retirement-benefit and health-care systems will mount. New immigrants will willingly share that burden. And so we should value them.

This is not a call to reopen Canada’s borders to newcomers prematurely. It is a request for the Trudeau government to make immigration a major part of its recovery plan. There’s a backlog to be cleared and safety measures to be implemented. Potential immigrants might also need reassurances it’s safe to come here.

But as we rebuild an economy shattered by COVID-19, we’ll need all the hands we can get.