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This country is overdue for a clear-eyed conversation about so-called “mass immigration” and the “threat” it poses to dear old Canada. And I mean sensible talk, not screaming matches egged on by the toxic politics and deliberate mischief that is distorting this debate.

First, let’s remember that Canada has experienced many periods of robust immigration and they all worked out fine, despite what you read on foolish billboards.

Here’s “mass immigration” Canadian style: a peaceful, wealthy country built by immigrant French, British, Irish, Italians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Germans and Jews and, later, Chinese, South Asians and Caribbean islanders.

Must I remind fellow citizens of Irish descent that in 1847 alone, 100,000 Irish escaping the Potato Famine came to Canada? I like to imagine them arriving in a cold, foggy Newfoundland cove fringed by rocks and stunted trees, seasick and half-starved, yet declaring the place to be Heart’s Content. How bad was life back home?

Between 1901 and 1914, more than 750,000 immigrants entered Canada, from the U.S., Germany, Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, according to government records. Are their descendants the ones complaining about immigration today?

During this period, 170,000 Ukrainians and 115,000 Poles arrived, a fact evident to every visitor to Western Canada. Are those the 21st century Canadians who don’t want similar opportunities for others?

More than a million immigrants came through Pier 21 in Halifax between 1928 and 1971. What would those brave souls have thought about today’s anti-immigrant scaremongering?

Some of the sickness plainly has spilled over from the manufactured hysteria about so-called mass immigration in the U.S., where Donald Trump has given it voice. Canada or U.S., it has infected the descendants of the previous mass immigrations, all of them occupying lands seized from Indigenous civilizations that were here way before any Europeans arrived.

As in the U.S., in Canada the manufactured hysteria is motivated by politics, with the goal to exploit undercurrents of bigotry within society for political gain. It’s a poor strategy. The main party complaining about “mass immigration” is at less than three per cent in the polls.

Yes, there are problems with Canadian immigration policy and practice. New arrivals are coming too fast and the system is overloaded. It’s not clear that Canada’s role in the global migration crisis is being managed efficiently.

And Canadians can support controlled immigration while still criticizing Liberal management of the system. The Trudeau government does not have a monopoly on concern for the human race.

But the fears being drummed up by the immigration alarmists distort what’s really going on. Canada is growing and prospering at the current levels of immigration. It is not under siege.

The Trudeau government is aiming for 350,000 new immigrants annually by 2021, which the alarmists call dangerously high. But even the People’s Party of Canada favours accepting up to 150,000 per year.

So, at some number between 150,000 and 350,000, plain old immigration becomes the dreaded “mass immigration,” in a country of 38 million producing fewer than two children per family.

Still, there are noisy people who believe that even 150,000 immigrants is too many, especially from the Middle East, Asia or Africa. They say immigrants and especially refugees consume resources that should be allocated to existing citizens only.

The People’s Party uses a think-tank number that puts the annual cost of immigration at more than $20 billion and claims costs rise over time. It’s not clear either statement is true.

In fact, most evidence suggests that immigration, far from being a drain, is vital to Canada’s economic well-being.

Canada’s system welcomes people with qualifications, based on a points system. Those people and their descendants will produce economic opportunities for all.

An election is coming and robust debate is part of the Canadian way.

Let’s not poison it with distortions.

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