Thinking the Unthinkables - video debate on immigration

Thinking the Unthinkables is a debate series sponsored by Microsoft. This edition has McLean's National Editor, Andrew Coyne debating former head of Immigration Services for Canada, James Bissett on the question of "Should Canada adopt a more wide-open immigration policy or should we be focused on more targeted immigration based on Canada's market needs?"

It's very interesting to hear Mr. Bissett, the person who was responsible for implementing immigration policy, speak passionately about keeping people out of Canada, and citing study after study on the negative impacts of, and marginal gains from immigration. Isn't it like having a member of Greenpeace lead your whale hunt?

This is one of the key disconnects of the Canadian immigration system. You have pro-immigration policies that are administered by anti-immigration bureaucrats.

Mr. Coyne's appeal to common sense and compassion is the voice of new Canadian thinking - Mr. Bissett is only concerned about maintaining his generation's status quo. "We don't need immigrants to fill up the empty spaces and fill the unwanted jobs." Mr. Bissett, his is last-century thinking.