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sure, chalk working people's issues down to "anti-immigration sentiment". That's how Trump got elected, and despite being liberal if the housing crisis continue
by it_learnses 10y ago
sure, chalk working people's issues down to "anti-immigration sentiment". That's how Trump got elected, and despite being liberal if the housing crisis continues, I'll be leaning toward voting any party (even conservatives) that can promise to resolve the issue of the market being flooded with this crazy influx of new immigrants and foreign buyers bringing the salaries down and property prices up.
- tempestn 10y agoIsn't it literally "anti-immigration sentiment" when someone expresses a desire to have someone else not immigrate? There is a bigdifference between an absent foreign buyer who simply takes a property out of circulation, and someone who actually moves to the country and lives in the house they buy. The latter is no longer 'foreign'; they're a new Canadian resident and IMO should be welcomed as such. Even from a purely selfish perspective (which, again IMO, we could use less of,) the country benefits significantly from skilled immigrants. Moreover, they're not what causes high house prices, except in the most marginal sense. The real problem is on the supply side. Foreign buyers are a part of it, in cities like Vancouver, but prices could still be brought down by increasing density. The general problem with that is, there's a disincentive to do that for the people who already own property, which tends to be most people in positions of power, and those to whom they are beholden. Immigrants are an easy scapegoat, but if we actually want to improve things, we need to look at policies that will do that, and I don't believe putting up a wall (literal or figurative) is one of them.