Sometimes the simple fix isn’t good enough.
In parts of the developed world, population growth peaked with the baby boomers. Now that they are beginning to retire, there aren’t enough people in the younger population to replace all of them in employment. Worse, as they get older they will need more health care and that will require more working people in the health care industry. As well, fewer people of working age means there is less of a tax base to pay for all the extra care.
Canada takes in a lot of immigrants. So Canadians saw an easy fix for this problem: approve more young immigrants for entry into Canada. This would be a beautiful solution if only the problem wasn’t more complex.
You see, the majority of immigrants to Canada settle in Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver. And why not? By settling in the big cities, you can keep some of the community you had in your old country.
My friend, whenever he wanted to mention an obscure place on the face of the earth, would use Bulgaria as an example. He didn’t know anyone from Bulgaria and I think the people he would say this to didn’t know Bulgarians either.
But sure enough, while living in Toronto during the World Cup of Soccer, one day Bulgaria won their game. Just like with every other ethnic group, when their team won, Bulgarians drove their cars around honking their horns and displaying that country’s flag all over the city. As obscure as Bulgaria is, there is a community of their people in Toronto.
Indeed, when the Martians wish to colonize Earth, I suspect that they will choose Toronto as the place to put their first off-Mars community. Toronto already has many programs to help newcomers set up there.
Montreal and Vancouver have similar stories and also attract many immigrants.
Some immigrants also move to the smaller cities. But not nearly as large a percentage as in Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver.
Small towns and rural areas get virtually no immigrants. I don’t blame the immigrants because these areas of Canada are most likely to be racist. Not everyone in rural areas is this way but in my experience it’s more prominent than in the other areas.
In my home in Kitchener, a mid size city, I think I am in the goldilocks zone. Enough young immigrants are in this region to replace our aging population and care for our elderly.
I’m not in Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver and thus don’t have to pay onerous taxes for more English/French as a 2nd language and other immigrant settling programs.
I’m not rural and thus don’t have to tough it out when I’m old and somehow care for myself when decrepit.
The future, for me, looks comfortable. Thank you half-assed, simple solution. I just happen to be in the right place.
