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The federal government’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth wants us to move from 300,000 to 450,000 immigrants a year.

There are three things everyone should agree on about immigration. One, given current understanding about the origin of our species, anyone not living in Africa (and some who are) is an immigrant. It’s just a question of when. Two, the way the world currently works, countries do get to control their borders. That’s true even though Donald Trump believes it. And, three, we should only let more people in if the benefits would be greater than the costs.

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Three sounds obvious and easy. It isn’t. Benefits and costs to whom? To the immigrants only? To existing Canadians only? To both prospective and existing Canadians? And what about the people left behind? Even if you agree on whose benefits and costs to count, there’s then the almost impossible task of actually calculating them. U.S. economics has had a fierce 20-year debate on the effects of immigrants and it’s not settled yet, even though some very smart people, including immigrants, have contributed.