Can Canada absorb an influx of immigrants?

Re Canada — and the world — needs more Canadians, Opinion, Aug. 7

I agree with Duncan Melville that Canada needs more immigrants to increase its population. We need more people to stimulate our economy, and in the long run spread the debt burden, as he mentions.

However, Canada must also be more selective when choosing prospective immigrants. There are many people around the globe who would love to live in Canada, so we can afford to be choosy. We must attract educated and skilled workers who can contribute to our economy now. We do not need workers in sectors where there is already high unemployment.

It is imperative that new immigrants participate to the economic life of this country when they arrive and not just after years of training and/or language lessons. They must possess the skills we need and speak either English or French.

The government could also give incentives to promote areas that could benefit from a population boost. We already have large congested cities, but there are many small towns in this country that could be revitalized with a bit more life around them. Claude Gannon, Markham

Duncan Melville makes the point that Canada can and should increase its population, potentially up to 100 million. He notes that Canada’s population density is significantly less than that of many other countries, forgetting, no doubt, that few people want to live in the Arctic, or even in the near north, and that increasing Canada’s population density means increasing the people using the 401 and the DVP each day.

Aside from that, Melville’s argument is based on the fallacy that population growth feeds increased consumption, which he deems a good thing, and therefore, increased wealth for the Jeff Bezos and Tim Cooks of the world.

Unfortunately, increased population — and ensuing consumption — will only aggravate the already cataclysmic climate change the world is experiencing. Canada’s North is already experiencing catastrophic changes. We need to reduce the population of the world to bring it back to a sustainable level. We need to work hard and fast to counter climate change.

We do not need, nor can we afford, 100 million people in Canada. Brigitte Nowak, Toronto

Duncan Melville emigrated from England 10 years ago and marvelled at all the ample space we have here is Canada, but would like to see it all overpopulated and overcrowded, which somehow defeats what he marvelled at in the first place.

He sites other countries with enormous populations and thinks we should be the same. It sounds like he’d like to see cities in Canada become like Tokyo or New York City.

I guess he doesn’t realize that more people equals more destruction to the environment, as more roads are paved, buildings erected, green spaces filled in and trees cut down. Also, as we have discovered recently, overcrowding during a pandemic causes more deaths.

At the moment, we can’t handle more immigration or refugees, as we currently have many people out of work and a housing crisis, which leads to newcomers ending up in shelters and motels because there is nowhere else for them to live.

Let’s do things sensibly and not decimate Canada’s wide open spaces and beautiful scenery for the sake of all Canadians, new and old. Jane White, Scarborough