Americans react to U.S. election results earlier this
month. Prof. Irwin Studin said this is a great opportunity to attract
talented Americans who could integrate quickly into Canada. (The
Associated Press / Frank Franklin II)
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Canada should seize the opportunity to boost its population by "seducing" disillusioned Americans, says a Toronto professor.
Irwin Studin, who spoke to an audience at Mount Allison University last week, believes Canada should try to triple its population to 100 million by the end of the century.
And Americans, who may be looking for a change of scenery after the U.S. election, are ripe for the picking.
"They need to be courted, they need to be seduced, and we have to offer them packages just like Israel, Singapore, China, Russia any number of countries around the world do when they try to compete for talent."
Irwin Studin, who spoke to an audience at Mount Allison University last week, believes Canada should try to triple its population to 100 million by the end of the century.
And Americans, who may be looking for a change of scenery after the U.S. election, are ripe for the picking.
- Canada's population tops 36 million as immigrants, refugees swell numbers
- Immigration alone won't solve economic woes, says prof
"They need to be courted, they need to be seduced, and we have to offer them packages just like Israel, Singapore, China, Russia any number of countries around the world do when they try to compete for talent."
Shift - NB
The case for tripling Canada's population
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'They need to be courted, they need to be seduced, and we have to offer them packages just like Israel, Singapore, China, Russia any number of countries around the world do when they try to compete for talent.' – Irwin Studin"We should be thinking for ourselves," he said. "We have to build a Canada where we are not just psychologically thinking for ourselves but we have resources to do so. That is cultural resources, economic resources, and a lot of that depends on demography."
The current rate of immigration is about 300,000 a year, Studin said. He proposes increasing it to more than 400,000. He said it's important to spread the population across the country, especially in the Atlantic Provinces where, according to Statistics Canada, only 2.3 million of Canada's 36.2 million people reside.
Pro sports in the Maritimes
Studin envisions a future with cities in New Brunswick large enough for their own professional sports teams, and with a bigger presence in other spheres such as science, business, the academy and international affairs.It can't all happen in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, he said.
"There will be new big cities by the end of the century if we properly plan and dream," he said.
Not all at once
He said the immigration should come over the course of the century, not flood the country all at once. But now is an opportune time to "roll out the red carpet," and not just for Americans."All over Europe there are countries with difficulty with citizens that could easily integrate and we need to be much more aggressive, if not even promiscuous, in courting these people."
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