The immigration debate has only just begun |
We’re not out of the woods yet, folks. While Donald Trump has stopped openly musing about turning Canada into the 51st state, his administration still has obvious designs on influencing our politics.
The recently released National Security Strategy makes it abundantly clear that Trump’s anti-immigration — and frankly, anti-immigrant — policies are not merely for domestic consumption. They’re also a key part of the MAGA universe’s foreign policy, one that’s clearly focused on bolstering the far-right parties in Europe and the United Kingdom who share their anti-immigrant politics.
We will not be immune from this, even if it isn’t our turn in the barrel just yet. In his Globe and Mail column, Konrad Yakabuski suggested that “the [strategy] is neither hostile to Canada nor are its stated goals antithetical to this country’s own interests.” But Canada’s ability to maintain a healthy discourse around things like immigration and diversity is very much in our interests, and it’s an area of clear and potentially explosive division with the Trump administration. Witness the recent social media outburst by vice-president JD Vance, who blamed Canada’s “immigration insanity” for its stagnating economic performance over........