Collaborative Proposal Creation
Create, improve and sponsor proposals in a respectful, fully bilingual environment. Grow proposals in the "Hothouse", for promotion to the "Workshop", to become official GPC policy.
- Proposal text
- Traditionally, environmentalists were opposed to population growth and the idea of perpetual economic growth - read "Limits to Growth" for example, or the work of environmentlists like Herman E Daly who proposed that eventually we had to have a "steady state economy". Yet, Canadian elites in business, media and government seem to think that bigger is better. Canada has a low birth rate rate, but so does the US and most other developed countries and even Japan and Italy are shrinking. Yet, the trudeau government has taken immigration policy to an extreme - doubling the already high 250,000 immigrants in 2015 under Harper to 500,000 in 2025, and in fact, we brought in 1.05 million in 2022. This seems in line with the goals of the Century Initiative, a bank and corporate funded group founded by Dominic Barton, thar want Canada to have 100 million people in 2100 - on the basis that bigger is better. Yet, global population will peak at 9.7 billion around 2064 then drop by a billion by 2100. Canada has committed to a 30% cut in GHGs from 2005-2030 - we are behind this for 2 reasons - the expansion of oil & gas industry, and population growth. We would need a 50% per capita cut in GHGs instead of 30% because of growth, and the idea of a 45% total make is even harder and more expensive and likely impossible. Meanwhile, population growth has other impacts - particularly high housing prices and rents. We saw in 2020 what closing the borders does to rends and condo prices. But on top of this, adding more workers reduces wage growth, unemployment and productivity. The best way to increase productivity is through capital investment in business and R&D - but with high population growth, more capital goes into housing, infrastructure and growth. Canada grew by 1.4% in 2019, the US by half that at 0.7% and the other G7 countries were lower. We benefit from some immigration, but there are decreasing returns. High population growth leads to urban sprawl, more pollution and more need for canada to exploit natural resources for exports. Each immigrant we bring in is not poor but is usually educated or from the upper classes of poorer countries, but even so their environmental footprint could be 3 or 4 times higher. The world might need more Canada, but as the 2nd highest per capita GHG emitters, the world doesn't need more Canadians. Time for the GPC to oppose high immigration on economic and environmental grounds.
- Type of Proposal
- Public policy that the party would represent
- Objective / Benefit
- Raise Canada's GDP/capita, reduce the cost of living, and be greener by cutting immigration to pre-2015 levels or closer to US levels.
- If your proposal replaces an existing policy or policies, which one does it replace?
- N/A
- List any supporting evidence for your proposal
- On housing prices, see https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadas-next-wave-of-homebuyers-set-to-add-more-fuel-to-overheated/ or https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canadas-housing-and-immigration-policies-are-at-odds/ and see https://financialpost.com/news/economy/economists-not-politicians-immigration-alarms
- Does this proposal affect any particular group and what efforts have been made to consult with the group or groups?
- N/A
- Jurisdiction: Is this proposal under federal jurisdiction?
- Yes
- Please indicate the language the proposal is being submitted in.
- English
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Reference: PVC-PROP-2023-08-4126
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Our current fast increase of population growth is straining all of our resources, including labour, capital, and usable space.
The price of building lots is skyrocketing in all urban centers. High demand for building materials is pushing housing costs up, adding to prices. To combat inflation, the Bank of Canada raises interest rates, adding even more to the cost of housing.
A common argument used, by the right, is that the government should not be fighting climate change when Canadians are struggling because of inflation.
We are committing our resources to building new housing and infrastructure, to accommodate more people. We need those resources to upgrade our existing housing and infrastructure. We need to be transitioning our economy away from fossil fuels, and adapting to the climate change that is already inevitable.
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