Labour should look to Carney's Canada for a plan on immigration

When Canada went to the polls last month, the centre-left government felt immigration had grown at a “rapid and unsustainable pace, with our housing and social infrastructure failing to absorb all the people arriving”.

- Steve Bloomfield International Editor

Numbers would come down, Mark Carney promised. But there was no talk of “incalculable damage” or fears that the country would become an “island of strangers”. Instead, Carney’s manifesto spoke of the strength of “diverse communities”, which had brought “new businesses, innovations, cultures, religious plurality, and a strong, well-educated labour force”.

He laid out a plan that would both “attract the best talent in the world” and “prioritise the world’s most vulnerable”. Asylum seekers would be offered legal aid, while migrants already in Canada would have the chance to bring in family members.

Carney’s victory had little to do with immigration - and that’s the point. Despite the higher levels of immigration Canada had experienced since the pandemic, people weren't that concerned. Just 5% of voters said it was a major issue.