Abstract: Neo-classical theory implies that free migration maximizes world output and welfare and provides the basis for liberal immigration policies in many developed countries.  It is also undisputable that immigration raises a country’s aggregate national income and influence in the world.

This paper argues that the proper analytical focus is the effect of immigration on per capita income of the residents in the receiving country and that recent immigrants into Canada have in fact lowered it through the following mechanisms:

• Immigrants with low and very high educational attainment have lowered the wages of competing groups of Canadian workers.  Immigrants are not needed to fill low-income jobs that Canadians do not want.

• Recent immigrants have average incomes that are 80 percent of those of comparable Canadians even 10 years after their arrival in Canada.  Because of the welfare state, these immigrants impose a significant fiscal burden on other Canadians through lower than average tax payments while consuming average amounts of social benefits and education.

• Immigrants no longer generate economies of scale but their demand for infrastructure results in higher average costs, congestion and pollution.

• Immigrants cannot solve the problem of unfounded liabilities of existing public health and pension systems.

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