This is definitely a contributor, but declining fertility rates isn't a new thing.

I think the largest problem is average hours worked per parent has been increasing for 60 plus years.

We need more full time jobs at 30 hours a week or so.

You do realize that these things go hand in hand, no? Capitalists needwant cheap labor, so they exploit immigrants, in turn driving down wages for everyone.

Edit: I received some criticism as though I'm suggesting "immigrants are taking our jobs" - that's wrong. I'm only saying that capitalists are exploiting a vulnerable population, which in turn creates more wage stagnation as the market is flooded with cheap labour.

I'm very pro-immigration, but I try to understand the nuance it has on the job market.___

I wonder if people realize that if we were to (as a thought experiment) get rid of all immigration but replace that entirely with homegrown birth rates, it would exacerbate the "problems" with population growth far more than doing it with immigration. Instead of bringing in working people who can start contributing to the economy essentially immediately, we would be bringing in children who would be drains on our resources for the next 18 years until we can educate them and get them into productive roles. The benefit of immigration is that some other country pours the resources into turning a child into a productive adult and then we reap the rewards.

Why are so many people having fewer and fewer children?

Becase you have given women automony; via work, the right to choose and mostly taken religious shaming away. When they control their destiny, they'll mostly choose 0,1 or 2 children.. Replacement rate for a steady population is 2.1

No amount of childcare subsidy or work flexibility will change that, it's the same in places like Swdean. Same all over the world in developed countries

The answer to this is really simple: the more money you have, the less children you have…or vice verse.

You’re asking why comfortable or wealthy people have less children? Because children are very expensive. You literally can’t be wealthy if you have a lot of children…or you will be far less likely to wealthy.

Short story long: most Canadians have to run on the hamster wheel to meet capitalist/materialist goals and delay having children.

Need to get people out of cars and onto public transit.

Make it cheap, clean, fast and reliable.

Its good. Its how I'm in Canada. Auto companies in 70s didn't have enough skilled machinery repair and retool workers so they reached out to recruit from the UK and Europe. So my parents came over with us kids.

My coworker was an immigrant and got his citizenship and now votes against immigration... So go figure.

People have mixed opinions.

Most people are in favor, a minority aren't. Population inversion should scare people more than it does, but right now the current dominant fear for people is housing costs, which immigration rates are being (very incorrectly) blamed for.

If you ask the average person, they probably would reply "immigration is fine as long as we can provide for everyone". The average left-leaning person would be more likely to drop the conditional, and the average right leaning person would say "verb the noun" and ask why we're letting immigrants take out 300k loans from banks and then leave the country with the cash[1].

It's a mixed bag, as with anywhere.

[1] this is not happening in any meaningful capacity and most immigrants can't secure any credit at all without collateral, but this is nonetheless a very real conversation I've had with a post-secondary educated semi-friend who really should know better

It’s good to a point. You have to have the social supports to maintain a minimum standard. Letting too many people in at once and suddenly nobody has houses or doctors is not a good outcome for new or established Canadians.

Also reminder that voluntary immigration and temporarily accepting persecuted people for humanitarian reasons are different things.

Population growth masks underlying late stage capitalism problems. If we're relying on continuously growing to cover bad short-term policy, then we should rethink that.

I'm immigration positive. I think we grow as a country and culture by inviting in other cultures.

I would like to see us do more for those seeking asylum.

I think we should try and scalp as many doctors as we can with tax breaks and other things.

I'm fine with people seeking to come to Canada for University because that helps our education system.

I would like to see more protections for those coming to Canada and basically being slave labour for those that brought them in. This is a huge problem in the South Asian community and I've known several people brought in and forced to work fucked up hours for almost zero pay under the threat of being fired and having a visa revoked. The scum doing this are usually from the same home country on permanent residence status. If discovered, these people need to have PR revoked and kicked out of the country. Luckily we were able to find these people new honest jobs but they refused to report the previous agents and employers for fear they could still retaliate.

What type of immigration are we talking about? A small amount from a diverse set of countries to enrich Canada with culture, new ideas and talent; or the type of mass immigration we've seen over the last 3 years that drives down wages, increases rents, and encourages cpmpanies to enrich themselves by taking advantage of them, that got so bad Canada got called out by the UN for modern day slavery?

Student visas should be an encouraged pathway for immigration.

Give me your young, your ambitious,
Your huddled masses yearning to study and create,
The frustrated youth of your teeming shore.
Send these, the ones willing to learn how to be Canadian scientists, doctors, scholars and artists,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

increasing housing supply issue

LOL. >100,000 empty condos not enough? Build more empty condos?

I’m not sure what your angle is…but you don’t need to increase “housing supply” if the population is decreasing.