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Our leaders aren’t facing the tough questions about Canada’s immigration policy, argues Robert Sibley, such as how many newcomers can our economy and culture actually absorb?

This is the second of a two-part series on issues not being discussed in depth during the 2015 federal election campaign.

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It’s still a good place to live, but that’s all Canada is now — just a good place to live. – Historian Donald Creighton

Several years ago the National Post staged a contest asking readers to come up with a motto to describe Canada. The winning entry was “Canada — A Home for the World.”

The phrase is revealing in its assumptions. There is no suggestion that Canada possesses a national identity that makes it distinct among nations, no allusion to geographic or historical circumstances, or even some intimation of a national ideal beyond, well, the comforts of home. Instead, the motto portrays Canada as a pleasant suburb of the global village, or what novelist Yann Martel pithily described as “the greatest hotel on Earth.”