I recently visited Toronto on a short vacation and enjoyed the city and the experience immensely.  Toronto is clean, safe, and livable.  The people are friendly, and by all indicators, the city is booming.  It is a civil, seemingly very well run city populated by a diverse set of people.  Nearly fifty percent of Toronto's population is foreign-born, and the city has a distinct multicultural character.  The new arrivals have contributed to a growth rate that recently resulted in Toronto having a larger population than Chicago.

Why does Toronto seem to work on a civic level so much better than New York City?  Both cities have high taxes, a large foreign-born population, and many other important things in common.  What is the distinguishing factor?

Demographics determine a country's economic destiny

Every country needs an adequate number of working-age people to create wealth to grow its economy.  The United States and Canada are both facing a future of lower economic growth due to the demographic challenges of a native population rapidly advancing in age and low birth rates.  Immigration policy will play an increasingly key role in determining the economic outlooks for both countries.

Invited guests

In Canada, there is agreement that immigration policy must be a primary driver of future economic growth and is considered a necessity because the country has a population of only thirty-seven million people as of 2018.  Created in 1967, Canada's well managed merit based and economic driven immigration policy assigns points to prospective newcomers for job skills, education, a work offer, and language proficiency.  There also is an attempt to recruit foreign workers with the skills required to fill jobs that cannot be filled by current Canadian workers.

Their system is not based on country of origin, rather, it is driven primarily by the merits of the individual candidates applying to emigrate to Canada and their potential future contribution as productive citizens and their ability to integrate into society.  The success and widespread acceptance of the current program across the Canadian political spectrum exists because of the country's commitment to policing immigration strictly, resulting in an orderly system with participants who are law-abiding and come in through the so-called front door, in the open, for all to observe.  The Canadian government remains in tight control of every aspect of a well implemented and run immigration system.

The Canadians do have a geographic advantage working in their favor to make Canadian borders that much more secure than ours.  There are vast oceans to the east and west, the Arctic to the north, and the U.S. to the south.

The Canadian government recently announced plans to add one million more immigrants in the next three years, 2019 through 2021.  Immigrants to Canada are encouraged to retain their original identity, thereby creating a society more like a mosaic rather than an American-style melting pot. 

America's economic as well as cultural and social future is also so greatly dependent on the quality and skills of the people who migrate to the country, so why are we not doing a better job of selecting who can come to and stay in the U.S.?

Why does U.S. immigration policy remain in chaos?

We have a growing crisis at the U.S. southern border adversely impacted by continued inaction by Congress and especially the Democrat-run House on this important issue.  The immigration laws of this country urgently require congressional attention; however, inaction and an intractable political stalemate on the entire range of complex immigration issues are the order of the day.  The Democratic Party's position of permitting a reign of immigration chaos and lax enforcement of current laws seems to be motivated by a political objective contrary to the best interests of our nation's future.  The current situation encourages more illegals to come to our country with little regard for the negative consequences to our nation's economic, social, and cultural future, including having Mexican drug- and human-trafficking cartels profit immensely from the disorder at the border.

The reason the Democrats continue to refuse to work in any constructive fashion with the Trump administration on any immigration issues is that the Democrats' covert objective in this fight is to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens in our country.  Behind the Democrats' support of open borders and non-enforcement and reform of current immigration laws is an attempt to guarantee the winning of future elections.  Democrats are working to create massive new numbers of Democratic Party voters with a deliberate policy of inaction and opposition to any immigration policy.  Maintaining and gaining power is the primary motivation for Democrats in this political battle.

The Democrats are in fact recruiting millions more people to join an expanding and permanent underclass that they plan to be obligated to vote for them in future elections.  The majority of illegal aliens settle in six states: California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, and Florida.  This has already aided Democrats politically by increasing their voter rolls in solid blue states such as California, New York, and New Jersey.  If they succeed in turning Texas and Florida blue with more Democratic Party voters, the Republican Party will be left without any hope of winning a future presidential election.  For example, Houston was just recognized as the most diverse city in the U.S., surpassing even New York City.

A need for immigrants with the proper skills and education

Similar to Canada, a 21st-century American economy needs a rational immigration system to attract immigrants with the proper skills and education to contribute to its economic future.  Our nation needs to have control regarding who can settle in this country and to resolve equitably and humanely what to do with the millions of illegal aliens already here.  In addition, we urgently require the proper laws and border enforcement capabilities, including a border wall in place to halt the steady stream of new illegal migrants into the country.

Toronto is a city settled by invited guests selected by a well defined Canadian government immigration program established to deliberately choose new residents for their predicted positive contribution to society.  The policy works, and it is obvious to any casual observer of this booming and civil city.

A visit north of the border will further convince any American of the need for urgent action on immigration policy.  The Canadians have already completed the hard work and created a workable immigration model.  America needs to urgently follow their good example.