Doug Saunders

In this book, journalist Doug Saunders argues that Canada needs to increase our population to 100 million people in order to become a more innovative, prosperous country. He argues that a larger population would mean larger domestic markets where Canadian companies, entertainers and entrepreneurs could thrive and reach a larger capacity before going international. He thinks a larger population would support more/better services and infrastructure development and stem out-migration. Mr. Saunders also reviews Canada's immigration policy which he criticizes for, historically, keeping us inward-looking and small.

This is an interesting and timely book. While reading the historical section, I was struck at how none of the facts were unknown to me, but I had never thought of them through an immigration and population size lens. By looking at statistics (not provided in the book itself), I realized that growing our population to 100 million over several years is not a radical proposition in itself, depending on timing and how we would approach the goal, which the author leaves open. But I also wonder whether population size itself is Canada's biggest economic problem. The author doesn't discuss productivity, for example.

Two points I disagreed on: First, I think Mr. Saunders doesn't give enough weight to the issue of social cohesion. The views in the book on multiculturalism and integration are not the populist ones. Second, he predicts a sharp decrease in refugee levels, which he says spike only every few decades. I fear that refugee levels will be one of the biggest problems the world has to face in the coming decades with displacements of people due to civil war, climate change, discriminatory beliefs, etc.

As you can see, this book made me think -- and that's the mark of a good public policy book!… (altro)