David Puddicombe

[Steven J. Paolasini @StevePaolasini]

They just invited 5,000 French speakers at a human capital score of 382. The day before, people already working in Canada needed a 523. IRCC invited only 1,000 of them.

382 is also an inflated score because anyone in that category automatically gets a 25 pt handicap. So more like 357.

I keep asking myself what the point of these consultations is if the government has already decided what it wants to do.

Every year IRCC sends surveys to thousands of organizations asking what Canada actually needs. Which categories are a “great need”? Should we prioritize people already working in Canada? Should Francophone immigration remain an economic priority? They hold consultations, collect submissions, pay people to analyze the results, write the reports, translate them, publish them, and call the whole exercise “What We Heard.”

Then they ignore what they heard.

I sat in the committee room on February 9 with the brief in front of me. I’ve read these reports. These are their numbers.

In 2024, when IRCC asked which categories represented a “great need,” healthcare came back at 55.8%. Trades were 38.8%. STEM was 32.4%. French was last at 14.6%.

About half said prioritize skilled workers already in Canada. Only a small minority preferred new workers from overseas. Only 19% gave Francophone immigration a lot of support as an economic priority. More than half gave it little or no support.

Canadians answered the questions.

Then 2025 happened and now 2026 is shaping up to be even worse. We’re not even done the year and the French category has blown past the 2025 numbers.

In 2025, French-language candidates received 49.2% of all Express Entry invitations. 78% of them were overseas. STEM went from 28.7% of the system in 2023 to 5.8%. There has not been a dedicated STEM draw since April 2024. Healthcare, the thing respondents said Canada needed most, got 18.6%. Trades got 4.4%.

And this is not even Quebec. Quebec runs its own system. The only distinctly French province is not in these numbers. This is Ottawa stuffing overseas French speakers into the rest of the country, while hollowing out the high-skilled pathway Express Entry was supposed to be.

The message to candidates is getting absurdly simple:

We don’t care what you do. We don’t care what you earn. We don’t care how long you’ve been here. We don’t care whether your occupation is supposedly one of the ones Canada desperately needs.

Just learn French. And you’ll get a 50 pt handicap if you can speak basic English.

Apparently this is the economic class? That is the precedent we are setting.

Meanwhile someone who has spent years building a career here, paying taxes, and getting Canadian work experience can look at a 523 and be told they are not competitive enough. An overseas candidate gets in at 382 because the French-language target matters more.

Pay public servants and consultants to run the process, write the PDF, and put “What We Heard” on a government website. Then do what you were going to do anyway.

That is consultation theatre and a government grift. Not because somebody is stuffing cash in their pocket. Because we have built a taxpayer-funded machine around pretending to ask. Salaries. Contracts. Meetings. Reports. God knows how many hours of public-service time. All of that costs money.

What are Canadians getting for it if the answer cannot change the policy?

Makers and builders get a 500+ score and a closed door. The people running the survey get another report, another budget line, and another year of doing whatever they already decided.

If Ottawa has already decided that Francophone targets override labour-market demand, Canadian work experience, earnings, and the answers in its own consultations, then have the courage to say that.

Just say it’s performative, admit you are liars, thieves and grifters. Stop hiding behind “What We Heard.”

Now we’re in 2026, and they still are not listening and it’s getting worse.

The charts are their numbers.

[Arthur Boreman (yes, that Arthur Boreman) @ArthurBoreman]

PUT IT IN THE LOUVRE

[Ron Butler @ronmortgageguy]

What The Hell Happened To All The EV Battery Plants? How Much Money Did Canada Lose?

Because out of 10 or 12 huge announcements adding up to over $50B its all collapsed to 1 single plant that may or may not open

How did this happen? How can we stop this insanity continuing?

2/

[Ron Butler @ronmortgageguy]

$13 BILLION Of Taxpayer's Money Thrown On The Bonfire Of Build Canada Homes

Let's be clear on why this is such a bad idea

It's NOT about building homes for anyone to BUY

It's Subsidized Social Housing & Rentals

Which are good things but we currently have too many Rentals

2/

[Roy Jones Jr. @RealRoyJonesJr]

In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history. By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.

[David Puddicombe @dpudd]

@DriveBC update for the Whistler to Pemberton stretch of highway?

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

Hang it in the Louvre

[David Puddicombe @dpudd]

@RafaelNadal @rogerfederer Scores?
(Course & tees?)

[Richard Dias @RichardDias_CFA]

Perhaps the single most reckless economic policy in Canadian history —tripling population growth via immigration without a thought of where to house them or the knock-on effects on society —is finally coming to an end.

The Young & Working Class will keep paying the price.

[Ellis Ross @ellisbross]

Last night, The Economist posted that the Liberal government is negotiating first rights of refusal to united states for Canada’s mineral resources. Elbows up? Diversifying trade? Canada’s not for sale? Have provinces agreed to this?
The government didn’t deny this

[Stephen Punwasi 🏚️📉🐈☃️ @StephenPunwasi]

🇨🇦’s immigration plan is more predatory than most can imagine.

Politicians, & the boomers supporting them, want more taxpayers w/o spending to raise them.

The taxes you pay to support healthy family-oriented communities can now be looted. 🇨🇦’s medium-term outlook is bleak.

[David Puddicombe @dpudd]

@ParkBoard please fix the stairs at the 2nd beach pool playground.

100s of families use this every day & it has been broken for months.

[Tristin Hopper @TristinHopper]

Canada has measurably declined almost everywhere since 2015, and often dramatically so. You can argue that it wasn't all the Liberals fault, but the numbers don't lie: We've become a shabbier country under their watch. https://t.co/eBHwpweCvg

[Stephen Punwasi 🏚️📉🐈☃️ @StephenPunwasi]

🇨🇦’s efficiency of government spending ranked 29 out of 32 out of countries in the Americas.

🇨🇦’s election is about economic freedom, but we already score the highest in the Americas. We’re ignoring an actual problem—our gov wastes a buttload on insider contracts.

[Dr. Giulia Muraca @GiuliaMuraca1]

Did injuries caused by childbirth (e.g., #perinealtear) impact your #breastfeeding experience or decisions? Our team is exploring these experiences, and we’re looking for participants willing to share their stories. Click below for our eligibility survey: https://t.co/B4IOOCd9Qb

[Ben Mulroney @BenMulroney]

Why does Pierre Poilievre want to be Prime Minister Canada and how does he plan on breaking through to undecided voters? I asked him in our long-form Interview.

https://t.co/tsLluMAy38

@PierrePoilievre

[Stephen Punwasi 🏚️📉🐈☃️ @StephenPunwasi]

fyi 🇨🇦, this isn’t for housing affordability—it’s to raise prices.

Supply & demand applies to all parts of building. This is called a demand inducement scheme, used to prevent price corrections & drive builder costs higher.

Similar scheme caused 🇺🇸 bubble in 2006.

[Stephen Punwasi 🏚️📉🐈☃️ @StephenPunwasi]

Polling in 🇨🇦 is wild. They literally tell you nothing but sets the narrative for discussion.

Just 1k people interviewed, 67% aged 50 or older.

No worries, the small sample of young adults will be projected, creating a 50% margin of error—like flipping a coin,

[govt.exe is corrupt @govt_corrupt]

The Liberal Party is 24 hours away from appointing a private citizen with three passports, who has never been elected to any position, as Prime Minister.

This follows their suspension of democracy by proroguing parliament.

[Lorrie Goldstein @sunlorrie]

That the same Prime Minister who said Canada was a post-national state with no core identity is now posing as Captain Canada is the irony of ironies.