this is actually a relatively useful point to make. the simple truth is that it's very cold, here.

if you take a survey of western canada, you'll notice something very interesting that most canadians are actually unaware of: there's a large percentage of toponyms that are of northern and north-eastern european background. finnish, norwegian, swedish, ukrainian. it was by specifically attracting settlers from these northern countries that we were able to settle the west and prevent american expansion. my maternal grandmother's mother's parents came here in the early part of the last century from finland and norway and settled in saskatchewan under this program of targeted immigration from northern europe.

somewhere along the way, the cold war seems to have gotten in the way. it would have been hard to migrate from russia or ukraine during those years. and, today, the scandinavian countries have comparable or higher living standards than we do.

but, if we really need the population increases (i don't think that's clear, actually...), perhaps we should be looking at attracting migrants from countries that are used to cold winters. it worked in the past.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/no-surprise-here-canada-a-turnoff-for-some-refugees/article27600848/