3 ms·

Canada needs people? I thought the recent controversy is all about Canada having too many people and the pro immigration government also taking a more tempered

Canada needs people? I thought the recent controversy is all about Canada having too many people and the pro immigration government also taking a more tempered immigration stance?

paxys 2y ago
Canada has a population of 40 million in a land area larger than the USA. That's hardly "too many people". Too many people in a handful of dense urban centers maybe, but overall the country is basically empty.
- tills13 2y ago
  The argument is that we are taking on too many people and neither jobs nor housing completions are keeping up. There is an element of truth in that however our birthrate is not sustainable, either, so we're caught between those two eventualities.
- sumedh 2y ago
  > but overall the country is basically empty. Can people live in the empty parts of Canada?
  - bombcar 2y ago
    The empty parts start just outside the cities, so obviously yes. The thing is there is no REASON to; a city can’t really be self-fulfilling until after it has grown for some other reason (oil, or crops, or shipping, etc). I suppose Canada could chose to move the capital to some small town in Nunavut and cause a population boom there.
- betaby 2y ago
  > in a land area larger than the USA That's called permafrost.
- calf 2y ago
  Our land sucks. I live in Vancouver and can't grow decent: tomatoes, raspberries.
  - brailsafe 2y ago
    Raspberries and tomatoes seem to grow fine on the boulevards despite rainforest soil being less than ideal. Otherwise Canada has extremely fertile land.
    - calf 2y ago
      They are inferior goods and require warmth and sun, that's what they are limited by, the Canadian latitudes. Try American raspberries, it's a world apart.
      - brailsafe 2y ago
        Canada gets plenty of warmth and sun, and Raspberries do quite well in other provinces naturally. In Vancouver though, there's a few varieties that people plant and seem to flourish, but they don't propagate quite like the Himalayan Blackberries that seem to consume the city
  - seabrookmx 2y ago
    My family and I have no issues growing either of these on the island or lower mainland. This sounds like a you problem. You don't want to believe a stranger on the internet? Take a cruise through Delta sometime in early summer.
    - calf 2y ago
      Not the point. If you can grow then why are Canadian supermarket produce so awful compared to American tomatoes and raspberries? Think about that for a second and why that would be the case, if not for fundamental geographic limitations (the objective length of the growing season and the angle of sunlight). BC in particular is inferior and Montrealers moving here have made this exact complaint, it's not "just" me, sounds like you're in filter bubble. Instead of rudely retorting 'it sounds like a you issue' why don't you not make such an arrogant assumption and suppose I had a deeper reason for saying what I did, that actually is based on experience and research rather than a superficial tour through Delta in peak summer. Don't argue back; just ask why.
- duskwuff 2y ago
  > overall the country is basically empty. Because much of the landmass is uninhabitable. For instance, Nunavut is about 20% larger than Alaska, yet has less than one tenth its population - because most of the province is tundra. Even building a road through it is iffy - a city? Forget it.
  - bdangubic 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - brailsafe 2y ago
      Why is this relevant?
      - bdangubic 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - ShanghaiSeeker 2y ago
    Most of Canada is habitable. If you meant "comfortable to live", then draw a 100 miles radius circle centered on any existing comfortable Canadian city and see how much of it is actually developed.
- rayiner 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - jingonameo 2y ago
    Who is a Canadian?
    - rayiner 2y ago
      Glad you asked. My cousin grew up in Toronto. He was joking the other day about it Canadians. “You can just shove them! Try it! They’ll probably apologize to you.” Those are Canadians. They’re people socialized according to customs that, among other things, prioritize public civility and turning the other cheek. (Might have something to do with the fact that founding Canadians were virtually all Christian, and that percolated into secular Canadian culture.) My cousin is not Canadian. He’s an immigrant from a Muslim country. He’s “assimilated,” professionally successful, etc. Now, I don’t think he actually goes around shoving people. But we’re from an honor based society, so we are socialized to view that sort of passive behavior as weakness.
starky 2y ago
Canada does not have the infrastructure to support more people. Housing costs are out of control, healthcare is in a terrible state, etc. If those things were resolved first before bringing people in and straining the already strained infrastructure throughout the country then there wouldn't be nearly the pushback that is happening right now.

Canada needs people? I thought the recent controversy is all about Canada having too many people and the pro immigration government also taking a more tempered immigration stance?

paxys 2y ago

Canada has a population of 40 million in a land area larger than the USA. That's hardly "too many people". Too many people in a handful of dense urban centers maybe, but overall the country is basically empty.

tills13 2y ago
The argument is that we are taking on too many people and neither jobs nor housing completions are keeping up. There is an element of truth in that however our birthrate is not sustainable, either, so we're caught between those two eventualities.
sumedh 2y ago
> but overall the country is basically empty. Can people live in the empty parts of Canada?
- bombcar 2y ago
  The empty parts start just outside the cities, so obviously yes. The thing is there is no REASON to; a city can’t really be self-fulfilling until after it has grown for some other reason (oil, or crops, or shipping, etc). I suppose Canada could chose to move the capital to some small town in Nunavut and cause a population boom there.
betaby 2y ago
> in a land area larger than the USA That's called permafrost.
calf 2y ago
Our land sucks. I live in Vancouver and can't grow decent: tomatoes, raspberries.
- brailsafe 2y ago
  Raspberries and tomatoes seem to grow fine on the boulevards despite rainforest soil being less than ideal. Otherwise Canada has extremely fertile land.
  - calf 2y ago
    They are inferior goods and require warmth and sun, that's what they are limited by, the Canadian latitudes. Try American raspberries, it's a world apart.
    - brailsafe 2y ago
      Canada gets plenty of warmth and sun, and Raspberries do quite well in other provinces naturally. In Vancouver though, there's a few varieties that people plant and seem to flourish, but they don't propagate quite like the Himalayan Blackberries that seem to consume the city
- seabrookmx 2y ago
  My family and I have no issues growing either of these on the island or lower mainland. This sounds like a you problem. You don't want to believe a stranger on the internet? Take a cruise through Delta sometime in early summer.
  - calf 2y ago
    Not the point. If you can grow then why are Canadian supermarket produce so awful compared to American tomatoes and raspberries? Think about that for a second and why that would be the case, if not for fundamental geographic limitations (the objective length of the growing season and the angle of sunlight). BC in particular is inferior and Montrealers moving here have made this exact complaint, it's not "just" me, sounds like you're in filter bubble. Instead of rudely retorting 'it sounds like a you issue' why don't you not make such an arrogant assumption and suppose I had a deeper reason for saying what I did, that actually is based on experience and research rather than a superficial tour through Delta in peak summer. Don't argue back; just ask why.
duskwuff 2y ago
> overall the country is basically empty. Because much of the landmass is uninhabitable. For instance, Nunavut is about 20% larger than Alaska, yet has less than one tenth its population - because most of the province is tundra. Even building a road through it is iffy - a city? Forget it.
- bdangubic 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - brailsafe 2y ago
    Why is this relevant?
    - bdangubic 2y ago
      [flagged]
- ShanghaiSeeker 2y ago
  Most of Canada is habitable. If you meant "comfortable to live", then draw a 100 miles radius circle centered on any existing comfortable Canadian city and see how much of it is actually developed.
rayiner 2y ago
[flagged]
- jingonameo 2y ago
  Who is a Canadian?
  - rayiner 2y ago
    Glad you asked. My cousin grew up in Toronto. He was joking the other day about it Canadians. “You can just shove them! Try it! They’ll probably apologize to you.” Those are Canadians. They’re people socialized according to customs that, among other things, prioritize public civility and turning the other cheek. (Might have something to do with the fact that founding Canadians were virtually all Christian, and that percolated into secular Canadian culture.) My cousin is not Canadian. He’s an immigrant from a Muslim country. He’s “assimilated,” professionally successful, etc. Now, I don’t think he actually goes around shoving people. But we’re from an honor based society, so we are socialized to view that sort of passive behavior as weakness.

starky 2y ago

Canada does not have the infrastructure to support more people. Housing costs are out of control, healthcare is in a terrible state, etc. If those things were resolved first before bringing people in and straining the already strained infrastructure throughout the country then there wouldn't be nearly the pushback that is happening right now.