Whistleblower
Happy Monday Morning!
Canada is a great country, we are a rich country with an abundance of natural resources, good people, and a generally stable democratic system. There is so much to look forward to, so much potential, however, there’s no doubt we have stumbled in recent years. This is largely due to poor policy, which can, thankfully, be fixed. I think it’s important to highlight our shortcomings so that we can begin working on solutions.
The most obvious policy failure is around housing. We have failed to house our citizens. Young Canadians can’t get on the housing ladder because they can’t save a downpayment after half their income goes to taxes and the rest to sky high rents. Rent, as measured by the national CPI basket ripped to 8.9% in May, the highest in at least two decades.
Young Canadians are losing hope, the social contract was that if you went to school, worked hard and got a job, you could save enough money to buy a house and raise a family. That social contract has been broken.
In fact, a secret RCMP report is warning the federal government that Canada may descend into civil unrest once citizens realize the hopelessness of their economic situation. “The coming period of recession will … accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations. Canadians under 35 are unlikely to ever buy a place to live. The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the difference between the extremes of wealth, which is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations.”
The reality is many young Canadians can’t afford housing so they simply aren’t having kids. The response from the government has been to ramp up immigration which will be needed to cover the gaping hole of future entitlements. Immigration policy was loosened and then abused, so much so that the Canadian population has expanded by 2.8 million people over the past three years. That’s greater than the entire population of Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined.
Not only has this exacerbated the housing crisis, as seen in the rent inflation we highlighted earlier, but it has jeopardized the integrity of the entire immigration system, and exacerbated youth unemployment.
The growth in immigration has largely been delivered through foreign students and temporary workers. Much of what we are now learning has been a total scam.
LMIA stands for Labour Market Impact Assessment, which is a document that an employer in Canada may need to get before hiring a foreign worker. A positive LMIA will show that there is a need for a foreign worker to fill the job. It appears businesses are essentially selling work visas by creating fake jobs and then charging these immigrants huge fees under the table.
According to the whistleblower, here’s how the scheme works:
A business owner will be approached or hear about an immigration consultant that can make them extra money by charging workers for jobs.
The immigration consultants are people who have connections to get illegitimate documents and hook the business up with a steady stream of people willing to pay. They usually have connections in their home country. I estimate that there is about 50 immigration consultants that are responsible for the vast majority of the LMIAs coming through but there are hundreds more getting started.
The immigration consultant can set the business owner up with a CPA who can write them letters of support to prove they can pay the salary even if they don't have any money. They can set them up with fake pay stubs or whatever they need.
The immigration consultants will usually recommend calling the worker a supervisor because the business doesn't have to pretend to pay for their travel expenses or ensure they have affordable housing and the worker can apply for PR.
They post jobs online for a month on Job Bank and some sites specifically designed to technically meet the criteria of the program that nobody uses.
The worker pays the consultant and owner under the table and really works there until they get PR usually supplementing on gig work.
The Liberal government has repeatedly rolled back checks and balances in the program over the last ten years. The LMIA program was much harder to game and a lot more was looked into but they have repeatedly rolled it back to the point that it's abused very frequently.
There are legitimate LMIAs but I would estimate in my experience that between 75-80% of them are fraud. Many jobs posted don't even make sense and the employer doesn't care and considers fees a part of doing business.
The entire Reddit thread is worth reading. In summary we have fraudulent work visas responsible for not only excessive population growth which putting strain on our housing market, hospitals and infrastructure, but it’s also robbing our youth of jobs.
The unemployment rate just hit 6.4% in Canada. We keep adding more people but now there are not enough jobs to go around.
Normally when the unemployment rate hits 6% there is an automatic shutoff for temporary foreign worker approvals. However, in April 2022, the Trudeau government removed that policy.
And so, just like in previous recessions, the youth are the first to suffer the consequences. Youth employment rates have plunged.
So much for generational fairness. Yet we are told if we just pay a little bit more in taxes this will all go away.
Like I said earlier, the sooner we can identify our shortcomings, the sooner we can begin working on actual solutions.
Excellent commentary on our corrupt government. Hopefully the political trends occurring in Europe will spread to Canada. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
You’re not wrong, Steve - except that identifying the problem facilitates working on solutions.
Do you think the next govt in power will work to fix these issues, or will they also think “if it props up GDP, we’ll let it run”?
Your insight and analysis of past mistakes leading to our current situation is great and should be read by many…. But it begs the question - if we can’t rely on our politicians to solve these problems, then perhaps we can start brainstorming some and maybe raise a grassroots politician (Rich from TLH? Haha) who is willing to do what needs to be done to right the course.
Thanks as always for your effort on this.