The idea behind the Marshall Plan could be applied to a world approach to resettlement of refugees.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on October 14, 2024.
OTTAWA—Donald Trump and Pierre Poilievre are cut from the same cloth.
Last week, the behaviour of both men made that clearer than ever.
While a Category 5 hurricane was bearing down on Florida and the Gulf Coast, Trump was doing everything in his power to blame the storm of the century on immigration.
While Canada and the world were mourning first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on innocent Israeli civilians, Poilievre used a memorial service to blame the catastrophe on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
According to Trump, immigrants—and by osmosis his opponent Kamala Harris—are responsible for all crimes, economic challenges, and inflationary woes in the United States.
He forgets that more than one of his wives is an immigrant herself who has contributed positively to American life.
Poilievre is not riding the anti-immigration wave at the moment. Like Trump, he is married to an immigrant, but unlike Trump, he cannot make hay over a political attack on refugees.
Canadians are still generally positive about the role immigrants play in building our economy, although that support has been waning in recent months.
Make no mistake, if Poilievre smells a change in the domestic political wind, he will follow his American counterpart into attack mode on immigration.
Quebec Premier François Legault has already opened the door to that possibility, as he has recently taken to blaming the federal government for refugees who have been coming across the American border on foot.
Legault knows the pur laine support that he depends on is not as positive toward immigration as it is in urban areas.
Herouxville, Que.,’s racist “code of conduct” for immigrants was not that long ago. The notion that immigrants could water down the vibrancy of the French language in Quebec appeals to voters in rural constituencies.
Quebec is one province where Poilievre has not made a breakthrough. If he needs to stoke fear of immigrants as an election wedge issue, he will not hesitate.
So how does the current Liberal government counter that possibility?
Taking a leadership role in designing solutions for the world refugee crisis would be a good place to start.
I attended a meeting last week where a former public servant approached me to suggest that Canada initiate a call for a world Marshall Plan for refugee resettlement.
The first Marshall Plan, launched by the Americans after the Second World War, sought to rebuild war-torn regions of Europe, and modernize industry by removing trade barriers and improving prosperity. Another goal was to prevent the spread of communism.
In a relatively short period of less than a decade, bombed-out infrastructure was remediated, and the Europeans were back in business.
Some credit the Marshall Plan with putting Germany in the position to become a dominant European industrial powerhouse.
But the idea behind the Marshall Plan could be applied to a world approach to resettlement of refugees.
The Canadian government could take the lead in the Americas, working with Caribbean and Latin American countries to develop an economic-funded resettlement plan that would not cannibalize borders, but rather would co-operate and share the challenge of resettling the millions of global citizens who have lost their homes to war, famine, economic collapse, or climate change.
By involving Latin American nations, the plan would develop a more rational collective approach to assist the influx of immigrants from failed states in that part of the world.
A refugee resettlement plan could be replicated in other parts of the globe with a similar work plan.
Obviously, participation by the United States would be key, and that cannot happen until the results of the November election are finalized.
If Trump wins, there will be no possibility of regional co-operation, especially with our Latin neighbours. He is busy blaming immigration for every problem facing his country.
But if Harris is victorious, there could be an appetite for co-operation, given her knowledge of Canada and her parents’ status as Indian and Caribbean immigrants.
Now is the time for the Trudeau government to take the lead in an area that Canada knows well.
Back in the last century, our country won the Nansen Medal, a United Nations recognition for outstanding service in the cause of refugees because of Canadian efforts to resettle Vietnamese immigrants.
We remain the only country in the world to have been so honoured. We were the first country to include private sponsorships in our resettlement strategy.
It is time to think big again. Head off an anti-immigrant tsunami with our own modern-day Marshall Plan.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.
