Ottawa Is Overloading B.C. With Unsustainable Immigration

At a news conference in July, Premier David Eby admitted that B.C.’s “unprecedented population inflows from immigration” are “completely overwhelming”. He painted a dire picture of a province whose systems are buckling: “Our schools are full; we are unable to keep up with housing starts”.

Despite the Trudeau government’s effort to curtail immigration, the issue refuses to go away. A recent Vancouver Sun article by Douglas Todd features a forceful critique of skyrocketing immigration levels by Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West. As a mayor of a quickly growing municipality, West is well aware of the serious strain that out of control population growth is imposing on the lives of ordinary people.

West expresses frustration with Ottawa’s perception of immigrants as abstract economic units rather than real people with human needs: “I guess the federal government had this misguided idea that you could invite all these people to Canada and they wouldn’t have needs. They were never going to use the health-care system, they were never going to flush a toilet, they were never going to send their kids to school.”

In West’s view, this utter lack of planning is making the lives of British Columbians harder, and the tragic consequences include overwhelmed hospital emergency rooms: “Now you hear horror stories of people with serious issues who are waiting eight, 10 or 12 hours to be seen”.

These concerns are reflected in the data. From July 2024 to October 2024, B.C. saw a net loss of -2,578 people from interprovincial migration – meaning people are fleeing in droves for greener pastures elsewhere in Canada (not a ringing endorsement of B.C.). In that same period, we saw an astonishing net gain of +22,785 people from international migration.

There is one additional figure to think about. During that time period, we saw a miniscule gain of +957 from what population statisticians call “natural change” (births over deaths). To sum up: in a four month period, B.C. saw a gain of +22,785 from immigration, +957 from births, and a loss from interprovincial movement.

The figures don’t lie: immigration is the problem. For all of the many, many issues B.C. faces that are connected to population growth – astronomic housing costs, overwhelmed healthcare, overcrowded schools, rising road congestion, you name it – there is one clear culprit. Just imagine how much easier all of these challenges would be if all we had to deal with every four months was a paltry +957 gain from births.

It’s true that, before his resignation as Liberal Party Leader, Prime Minister Trudeau did oversee something of a course correction on immigration. Caps have been imposed on the international student and foreign worker streams, and the annual permanent resident rate has been slashed from 500,000 to 395,000.

It’s worth pointing out that 395,000 people is still the population equivalent of an entire city of Victoria, or four Nanaimos, being plopped down by the federal government every year. Is Canada building sufficient infrastructure to accommodate an annual inflow of that volume? Is building enough infrastructure for that many people even possible, or a desirable allocation of our society’s time and energy?

All that mayors like Port Coquitlam’s Brad West can do to combat B.C.’s population explosion is to publicly express frustration and try to put pressure on the feds. It remains to be seen whether more municipal politicians in B.C. will have the courage of their convictions – and the willingness to flout political correctness norms – to do so.

Meanwhile, the public’s view is clear. One recent poll showed that no fewer than 78% of Canadians support immigration restriction measures, and another poll revealed that 82% of recent immigrants think that immigration levels are too high.