I'm afraid that we are the success story.
I spent over 25 years of my career in Europe. I don't think we have a healthy debate there, in most countries—both old and new immigration hosts—in terms of what the needs of the economy and society are, what our immigrants bring and how we should organize and regulate migration and integration. Canada has been the gold standard, and I'm worried we might be losing that.
I had one more point in my comments that I didn't get to.
I'm concerned that a lot of criticism of the government's immigration policy has reflected on immigrants. The way it has been reported in our country, even in the mainstream media.... They talk negatively about the policy so that, at the end of the day, the average citizen or average permanent resident is thinking immigrants are the problem. We have forgotten how much immigrants did during the pandemic to keep our hospitals, food processing chains and basic services going.
There are even some studies that say, “Oh, we've had too much of an influx from South Asia, in terms of study permit holders. That's a problem.” I don't think it's a problem. The problem is the whole thing with international education and how international students have been subsidizing our own kids' education. Also, as mentioned in the previous panel, this fuels gaps in employment, in which employers don't want to improve wages and conditions.