Thread by @rateldajer

Good to see people talking about the future climate refuge problem. But I think the implications for Canada are even bigger, and also present a huge opportunity.

"Why Canada needs to think about accepting climate change refugees." cbc.ca/news/science/w…

A thread.

Climate migration is THE issue for Canada's future. There are three reasons.

The article talks about reason 1: international and national expectations.

Canadians support immigration, we like being a nation that helps, and our international obligations do require us to help.

Reason 2: It is inevitable. Climate change is happening. Hundreds of millions of people WILL need to move over the coming decades. Not just Fiji, look at the elevation map, and population density, of Bangladesh, for example. They will have to go somewhere.

Reason 3: We have space, too much in fact.

Ask yourself the moral question, why is Canada so big? Do we deserve to have so much space per capita? We're an accident of history.

Obviously, a lot of it is not easily habitable, but climate change actually changes that over time.

Fact: All human lives are equally important.

So what is the moral justification for telling people they can't live here? Just because their ancestors didn't happen to be the original colonizers of this land? Or didn't try to immigrate here?

Legally and logistically, we need to control immigration, in the interests of the common good of society and people who live here now.

BUT! What if we think BIG? What if we cut off the complaint that Canada isn't doing enough by proactively doing more than anyone can imagine?

And as a bonus, we'd become the global capital of the future economically, scientifically and culturally.

No, I'm serious.

What does innovation need?
People. Resources. Education.
A culture of cooperation and support. Science and engineering skills and tools.

Which one these is Canada missing? Just one.

Now look up the size and land area of global cities driving innovation and economies. Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York, The Bay Area. How many modern super cities of 20 million people could you fit in the vast open spaces of Canada?

Quite a few actually.

Imagine a 100-year-plan to take in 100 million immigrants to Canada.

I'll say that again:
Imagine a 100-year-plan to take in 100 million immigrants to Canada.

They'd help build 5 super cities of 20 million people each. Immigrant visas with a direct path to citizenship to come and help design, build and live in these cities.

Hundreds of new hosptials and schools, Dozens of new universities to educate the children of the builders, new economies forged from nothing but a choice.

Cities built from the ground up to use solar, wind, hydro, to remove pollution, to reduce the need for personal vehicles.

A national, ultra high speed rail network to connect them all to the existing cities.

Canada would become the future.

Why not?

Do you think we can't do it?
Trust me we can, if we choose to. We have the technology, the skills and global good will.

Canada is maybe the only nation in the world that could honestly put forward this kind of plan and trust that people would actually sign up to come here, to help build the future. What other places have enough good will, tech, skills, resources and enough space! to do this?

Australia. Maybe New Zealand? America techincally, but its not as empty, and just wouldn't.

No, its Canada.

And here's the kicker, the reason its not a pie eyed, socialist crazy nutcase idea.

The future doesn't care what we feel. COVID has reminded people how little control we have over nature. Climate change is happening. We all hope we'll avoid the worst effects, but cynically, we won't do anything until New York and London start sinking.

Where are everyone in Bangladesh going to go? Or any number of other places? People don't just accept death and poverty, they move, they fight to save their families, they make huge sacrificies and push boundaries to survive. They'll come whether we like it or not.

And that's how Canda was founded. We live with the moral legacy of what colonization did to the existing First Nations who were here. But Canada as it is now was created because of many poor, apparently crazy, Europeans coming here to farm and work and build a life, to survive.

If we do this proactively, we take control of our future and help provide an example for the world.

If we don't, we will be washed away by the tide of history.

We are too small to defend this vast land on our own. And what moral right would we have to turn people away?

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