Mark Carney’s first budget was all about re-orienting Canada’s economy and reducing its dependence on the United States. That agenda was highlighted by many billions in new program spending, ambitious industrial policy,and new tax credits and policies aimed at restoring Canada’s competitive advantage. But maybe the most important economic policy of all was the one that had nothing to do with major projects or new industries: its revised approach to immigration. 

If the government can repair the fraying social and political consensus around immigration, it will do far more for Canada’s long-term economic prosperity than any pipeline or infrastructure project. The Trump administration’s conspicuously cruel immigration policies represent a generational opportunity for Canada to attract top-tier talent, the kind that helps both companies and countries compete more successfully in a knowledge-driven economy. But Canada can only attract that talent if we get a handle on our own immigration policies and the increasingly toxic discourse around them. 

The post-COVID surge in temporary residents and international students that happened under the previous Liberal government drove up housing prices and put pressure on already strained healthcare and education systems. In the process, it undermined trust in the system that brings people into our country and damaged the broader pro-immigration consensus that mostly transcended partisan identities and loyalties. 

To Carney’s credit, the budget takes important steps to remedy some of that. It acknowledged the damage done by the previous Liberal government that allowed the 

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