Canada capping int'l students?

Canada may begin capping int'l students
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/canada-may-begin-capping-intl-students/ar-AA1mVV6F

Is that “a backdoor way (loophole)” to become a Canadian citizen?

“In response to the escalating unemployment and housing challenges in Canada, Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Saturday said that the government is contemplating the implementation of a cap on the number of international students residing in the country.

Miller, however, did not specify the extent of the reduction being considered for the immigration system. Speaking on CTV, the minister emphasized the necessity for a dialogue between the federal and provincial governments. He expressed concern over the sheer volume of international students in Canada, describing the current system as "out of control."”

 

No - it's a perfectly front-door way. We expect that. At least I do. They pay (a LOT - about 2.5 times the domestic price) for their education. They succeed - they have a Canadian credential - what better key to a Canadian job? Miller is trying to blame immigrants for the "housing shortage." There are plenty of houses, but a huge number people who can't buy them at crazy prices. Same deal with rents. Blame the politicians who made laws allowing landlords to gouge. And allowed foreigners (mainly Asians) who will never set foot in Canada, to speculate, from abroad, in Canadian Houses and other Real Estate.

Frankly, I think people who have come here, paid dearly for an education, and are succeeding in jobs here have proven themselves to be about the most desirable immigrants possible. I know some and I like them. I don't like Miller. I think he's an Immigration Minister who is anti-Immigrant. Like his predecessor. If HE (Miller) wanted to emigrate somewhere -- I'd chip in for his damn plane ticket. I'd be glad to see him go. He likes to see the foreign student fees roll in -- but doesn't want them here once the money's changed hands.

 

Freakin' gatekeepers!

 

There is more than one "real problem." I've seen what's happened in this rental market for 60 years now. Some landlords should be in jail. Believe me, Steve, it's ugly. Most rapid deterioration for consumers under two Conservative regimes. Harris, 1990s and Ford, now. I got a place 20 years ago that I could afford. I don't like it - meth head and other problems - but here I stay, due to cost - now just under half market cost.

I move - I pay twice as much and erode my savings. No thanks. My kids and grandkids could use that money, when I'm gone. If I can't do that for them.... I don't even want to think about that.

 

Sure. They want to build, they want to gouge. And they are, Because it's allowed. There's a rental building boom on, in my town right now. Low-end, small units at sky-high prices. Some right near the parks -- and the homeless tents in ALL or them.

The machine is broken.

 

Reminds me of what happened in the 40s -50s in parts of Chicago. I read it in the Blues books. There were buildings with good-sized apartments - then landlords were allowed to rebuild them to make each one into "kitchenette" units. Double and triple revenue from the same building. Instant slum. I wouldn't be surprised to see that here.

A relatively few years ago, at the low end of the rental spectrum. you got a single room, in a house, for no more than $50 a week. Now those are $600 a month, pay first and last month's rent up front and sign a one-year lease.

 

There's zoning but that doesn't stop anything. There are "illegal" apartments all over the place. A landlord down the street had a building that had 2-bedroom apartments. This was about 12-13 years ago and he was getting the going rate then, maybe $900 a month for each. That didn't satisfy him, so whenever a tenant moved, he re-jigged the apartment into a 3-bedroom - and rented it to 3 unrelated people - 1 bedroom for each, at $600 per, doubling his take to 1,800 for the apartment. He had a half-dozen seedy buildings - a "bad little empire." It came crashing down - he probably owed the wrong people money - and I think he returned to his native Iraq, which he always called "Babylon."

Yeah we got zoning. We got stories too. Landlords do ANYTHING they want. Ever hear of "renovictions?"

 

Ever hear of "renovictions?"

Well, there was a new twist on them, back last year.. About 1/2 mile from me, a building owner wanted to clear out the last tenants hanging on -- under rent control. Their rent averaged $925 a month. He figured on getting double that, once they were gone. (Once a tenant moves, the rent control bar is lifted so the landlord can set a new rate for a new tenant. Then, annual increase limits are re-imposed.) So the owner hired a guy to bulldoze a huge hole in the basement wall. This was winter-time and as planned, the water-supply to the building froze. Of course, the owner did nothing. He lives and works (real estate!) in a city about 30 miles away/

Some tenants left and the remainder had no running water for many months. Community organizations brought them bottled water, daily. The remaining tenants hung on for many months -- and were all out by sometime last fall. These wer,e poor people - even the old rate of $900 or so was hard for them. I'm sure quite a few "escaped" into homelessness. That's what the tenants weere talking about, as they left. There are more tents in the nearby park than ever before. The police know what it's like, here. They don't tell tent-people to move, any more.

@SteveFoerster And for now I'll leave you to your sarcasm, Steve.

 

@Johann you might appreciate this 2023 song by the band Dizzy, from Oshawa just east of Toronto. The singer despairs that she needs to crank out a club hit to afford rent (and all that rent is getting her is her own mom's basement).

 

Yes - I DO like this, Jonathan. Thanks! I first visited Oshawa about 50 years ago -- seemed like a quiet, smallish city - quite pretty in places. Very low-rise and comfortably old-fashioned, then. My one regret: not buying that double-strung Portuguese guitar in the music store. But I was a new Dad twice over and somewhat "house-poor," so I didn't cough up the $50.

Nowadays - Oshawa goes on forever. Where does it end? Barrie?
Just another part of the 2751 square miles of the GTA jungle. Yeah - it's that big. I checked.

 

I once walked by printed hoarding boards in downtown Toronto advertising luxury condos being built on the site.

"Where's the affordable housing?," someone had graffitied.

"Yonge and Sudbury," someone had graffitied in response.

Yonge is Toronto's main street running north from Lake Ontario. Sudbury is a city with less expensive housing… albeit 400 km (250 mi) north.

Oh, and that graffiti exchange happened twenty years ago. It's gotten worse since!

 

Tell me about it, Jonathan. I live in Hamilton. about 50 miles from Toronto. That city became completely unaffordable years ago. Toronto people began re-settling here, as they found they could buy comparable housing (or better) at HALF Toronto prices. They kept their lucrative Toronto jobs and commuted.

Nowadays, the difference has eroded. It's almost the same. We have tent-people and drug-people all over downtown. It looks like Ft. Apache The Bronx from street level. One mall is defunct - the property is being sold for condos. The other mall is on welfare or life support - I'm not sure which. It's not open past 6:00 pm, because some years ago, a store clerk was murdered, while she was working alone in the store, one evening. But the downtown skyline is all brand-new, expensive condos. Lot of small units, big prices. 30 floors high, some of them. They don't seem to be selling well, Some developers have gone bust on these ventures. Others have bought land and put up signs, but not turned sod -- in years. Again, lack of money.

My Credit Union, downtown branch, had to close its lobby (AND its ATM) at 5 pm because of homeless coming in, sleeping there and ...well, let's just say there is no washroom access. . The Credit Union finally fixed the problem - they closed the branch entirely.

It's pretty bad. I saw a couple of guys sitting on the sidewalk a few weeks ago. they were cooking and shooting-up in the open. Not even in their tent.

 

Right. Now it's "Yonge and Moosonee."
Moosonee is a small town (1,500 pop) 852 km (532 miles) from Toronto, in the Hudson Bay lowlands, 12km from James Bay. Moosonee is considered "The Gateway to the Arctic,"

I have nothing to support this, but I THINK there are some former Toronto dwellers still commuting from Moosonee, to their jobs in the Big City. Those folks are TOUGH.

 

P.S. I don't know how the ex-Toronto commuters (if there really are any in Moosonee) do it. There is NO ROAD south. They've probably got snowmobiles and ATVs. Maybe dog-sleds? Yeah, probably. If there's money to be made or saved -- they'll do it. Like I said --- tough!

 

It's interesting to learn how these real estate/landlord shenanigans lead to homeless status, and that it is a problem in nations besides the USA. Here in NYC we have also been dealing with it for decades, in buildings with and without rent stabilization. The recent human trafficking from Central America and Texas is making it much worse.