But then the NY Times is a liberal paper with an agenda for its American readers.  Take a look at this puff piece, in which the downsides are well buried on p. 2 (anyone from Winnipeg want to comment?):

Defying Trend, Canada Lures More Migrants

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — As waves of immigrants from the developing world remade Canada a decade ago, the famously friendly people of Manitoba could not contain their pique.

What irked them was not the Babel of tongues, the billions spent on health care and social services, or the explosion of ethnic identities. The rub was the newcomers’ preference for “M.T.V.” — Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver — over the humble prairie province north of North Dakota, which coveted workers and population growth.

Demanding “our fair share,” Manitobans did something hard to imagine in American politics, where concern over illegal immigrants dominates public debate and states seek more power to keep them out. In Canada, which has little illegal immigration, Manitoba won new power to bring foreigners in, handpicking ethnic and occupational groups judged most likely to stay.

This experiment in designer immigration has made Winnipeg a hub of parka-clad diversity — a blue-collar town that gripes about the cold in Punjabi and Tagalog — and has defied the anti-immigrant backlash seen in much of the world.

Rancorous debates over immigration have erupted from Australia to Sweden, but there is no such thing in Canada as an anti-immigrant politician. Few nations take more immigrants per capita, and perhaps none with less fuss…

The LA Times was also at it earlier this year:

Starry-eyed about immigrants to Canada

Check out the figures I have found on how many immigrants really are “skilled”, and see here for the points system’s problems.  On the other hand some Canadian are waking up:

One of our greatest and goodest wants immigration limited…

Plus a book by Lowell Green of CFRA Ottawa:

Mayday! Mayday!

Update: A reaction from a friend to the NY Times piece: “It read more like a satire than serious journalism. Man was that sad.”

Mark
Ottawa