Review article
Immigration: a Canadian Subject not to Be Taken Lightly
Nobuaki Suyama
; School of Social and Behavioural Sciences Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia
Abstract
Canada's demographic character has a lot to do with Canada's diverse and dynamic politics of federalism. While active labour forces are coveted to run provincial economies successfully for the purpose of "province-building", the number of residents itself is important in the relations among the provinces and also in their relations vis-a-vis Ottawa because of the majoritarian system and because of the present constitutional amendment formula incorporating the provinces' different population sizes. Each province's population change is determined by inter-provincial migration and the distribution of immigrants besides the natural balance (birth-death). The two levels of government have been involved in the negotiation on immigration because the governments can influence immigration more artificially than the other factors. The Quebec government, which is preoccupied with maintaining its proportion in the Confederation, has been the most aggressive in attracting and receiving immigrants, ideally Francophones or Frenchifiables so as to preserve a French-speaking society in North America. Similarly, the other provinces want immigrants to increase their pool of skills and capital.
Keywords
migration; Quebec; Francophones; federalism; Charlottetown Accord; Meech Lake Accord; birth rate
Hrčak ID:
126828
URI
Publication date:
30.9.1996.
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