“There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian. What could be more absurd than the concept of an ‘all Canadian’ boy or girl? A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate.”

That was Pierre Trudeau in 1971 defending his determination to increase both the scale and the diversity of immigration to Canada. He made the declaration to the Ukranian Canadian National Congress. It was no doubt a compelling message for a Canadian community whose parents had often suffered sneers as “Russian peasants who don’t share Canadian values.”

There was a clear line connecting his government’s legacy of immigration success and the sight at Pearson Airport last Christmas. In the first iconic visual of this government, his son, our new prime minister, gently eased astonished refugee children into their new Canadian winter parkas on arrival in Toronto.

He powerfully underlined the Canadian consensus about an open and tolerant Canada, and it echoed around the world. Last week’s immigration freeze announcement is a disappointing step back from that vision.

It is a curious aspect of human anxieties that most immigrant nations are somewhat ambivalent about immigration. Recent arrivals understand the importance of openness, the second generation sometimes succumbs to the siren appeal of politicians and pundits urging them “kick out the ladder.”

About 50 years ago most Canadians shook off their doubts and became the strongest backers of the most ambitious immigration policy in the developed world. Today we are the world leader in attracting the best and the brightest.

Sadly, some journalists and politicians, today continue to use careful euphemism of “values” to oppose immigration. Meanwhile employers, refugee support groups, and even the government’s own strategic policy adviser, Dominic Barton, all call for ambitious growth targets.

It was under Laurier, with the genius of his Canada salesman, Clifford Sifton, that we took the first big jump. Facing considerable political resistance — hostility at being flooded with “Russian peasants” — Laurier and Sifton opened the West to British, East European and Scandinavian farm immigrants.

We welcomed more than three million immigrants in less than a generation, more than 400,000 in 1913 alone! The scale of that achievement is — in a very Canadian fashion — not well celebrated.

Media fascination with cab drivers with doctorates, notwithstanding, no country has had more success at ensuring its newest citizens don’t get stranded in the immigrant ghettoes that ring Paris. Yes, it is harder for a Syrian or a Somalian immigrant to climb the socio-economic ladder today than it was for Sicilians earlier.

But our successful integration of literally millions of new immigrants from more than 100 nations in just two generations is unparalleled in human history. Why should we not be more ambitious? It’s not as if we have too many people, or too little land, or an overflow of skilled workers ….

Baby-boomers are beginning to die off in accelerating numbers, and Canadian families are getting smaller. The same dystopian critics say that higher targets cannot reverse the population decline.

But immigration is not merely about the numbers. It is a key economic policy driver because newcomers arrive with ambition, creativity, and a hunger to succeed, that far outstrips most of the rest of us. Try this test: how many big breakthrough successes in business and academe were launched by recent immigrants? How many by Stephen Harper’s “old stock” Canadians?

Immigrants launch new businesses, often have large families, and are early homebuyers stimulating new communities. Their children climb the ladder of academic achievement with relentless determination. They strengthen our networks of global engagement.

As Canada is globally famous for our ability to help newcomers build new lives, we get to choose the next generation of immigrants from the smartest, most skilled and qualified applicants on the planet. The tech community is pleading for easier access to that talent. Why would we hesitate?

Scale does matter. A generation from now an economy driven by 75 million Canadians would offer greater opportunities for all our citizens. As an international headhunter, I was saddened to meet the hundreds of Canadians, senior executives with American and European companies, who left because they hit a career ceiling here. Neither they nor their children are coming home.

All it would take to deliver those bigger Canada opportunities to our children is to revive the vision of Sifton, Laurier, and Pierre Trudeau. No one disputes the benefits for all Canadians of our creation of the most successful immigrant nation in the world.

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Why would we blink now?

Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe and a Broadbent Institute leadership fellow, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.

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