Chop immigration in recessions: think-tank

OTTAWA – The decision of successive Canadian governments since the early 1990s to maintain high immigration flows during tough economic times has added to the poor performance of newcomers over the past 30 years, says a study released Wednesday.

“During recessions economic outcomes deteriorate more among recent immigrants than among the Canadian-born,” wrote Arthur Sweetman and Garnett Picot in a paper published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, a Montreal-based think-tank.

Reducing inflow in recessions would likely improve immigrants’ overall performance and reduce the damage caused when newcomers to the labour market can’t find work for lengthy periods and become disengaged from the labour force, they argue.

The IRPP proposal was one of many to improve the weak economic performance of immigrants relative to other Canadians over the past 30 years.

The authors did note some of these measures have already been initiated.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney agreed with the report’s main thrust but didn’t support sharply reducing immigration during recessions.

He added he’s trying to balance demands from business, the provinces and opposition parties with critics who say immigration is too high.

He said “the findings confirm what I’ve been saying” about the struggles of recent immigrants.

Kenney has announced a number of initiatives to promote selecting immigrants who meet the economy’s needs.

“This is why … we need transformative change.”

Canadian immigration flows once rose and fell based on Canada’s economic performance, changing in the late 1980s under Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government.

That government’s policy of bringing in roughly a quartermillion immigrants and refugees each year continued under subsequent Liberal governments and under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, despite the recession of 2008-09.

In 2007, when the economy was still robust, immigrants and refugees totalled 236,753.

That figure rose to 247,245 in 2008, 252,174 in 2009, 280,691 in 2010, and 248,660 in 2011.

Fraser Institute economist and former Reform MP Herb Grubel, a longtime critic of high immigration levels, said Canada’s immigration policy is driven by politics.

He urged reducing immigration in times of recession and high unemployment, ending the buying of votes started by Prime Minister Mulroney in the 1980s.