It's the classic thing where people are unhappy due to unrelated systemic problems and they lash out and blame the latest people to show up.
Canadians are suffering due to decades on decades of poor housing policy and a continued reluctance to seriously engage in the problem. Suddenly immigrants are to blame.
Never mind the fact that long ago, before this government even touched immigration numbers, or were even elected, Toronto and Vancouver were already experiencing housing crises of high prices and severe shortage.
I beg to differ, I think import 5x the amount of population from the same part of the world has a major impact on any country, especially if the government doesn't plan for the sudden increase in population by expanding infrastructure, healthcare, housing etc.
Leaving the social issues aside, this was very poorly planned and average Canadians, especially young ones are feeling the pressure as a direct result of these policies.
Of course there are other factors but to argue that this is "sudden" and misplaced is not genuine.
1. Canadian household size is decreasing as more people are staying single, and people are living longer and becoming widowed. So even if population was completely flat Canada would need more homes over time.
2. Of course Canada has always had immigration and the population has thus always been increasing regardless of the birth rate. This is not a remarkable issue and easily accommodated by building more housing, but the severe systemic barriers to creating housing has made it more scarce and expensive than it should be. This was already the case in the major cities all the way back to the mid 2010s and the last government. The dominant problem here is bad housing policy dating back to the 1990s, not a sudden increase in immigration numbers in the last two years.
Canadians are suffering due to decades on decades of poor housing policy and a continued reluctance to seriously engage in the problem. Suddenly immigrants are to blame.
Never mind the fact that long ago, before this government even touched immigration numbers, or were even elected, Toronto and Vancouver were already experiencing housing crises of high prices and severe shortage.