text: I would add that immigration expense last year cost the government 2.5 billion dollars directly. It has been found to cost taxpayers as a net, 23 billion dollars annually because our new immigrants are not doing so well so pay less in tax than they receive in benefits. If you add in all the unemployed that could be employed if immigration levels were reduced, the overall cost of immigration to Canadian taxpayers is probably around 30 billion dollars a year. Reducing immigration levels is fiscally sound policy.