Leonardo Zarate is author of next 2015-2016 MLHS senior student editorial
Canada’s Wall
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s idea to build a wall between Canada and the United States will cost too much money; money that the United States (U. S.) doesn’t have. Also, Canada’s immigrants are minimal compared to Mexico, so Canada doesn’t pose a threat to the U. S.
According to thestar.com, to build a wall keeping Canadians out of the U. S. would cost way too much of our taxpayers’ money.
When the U. S. builds fences around borders, they have two types of fencing: metal obstacles to keep vehicles out, and barred fences for people on foot. The simple vehicle obstacles go for $1 million per mile. Barred fences range from $400,000 to $15.1 million dollars per mile, depending on the terrain, and Canada’s is very rough and full of trees. So, we’re most likely looking like $15.1 million per mile.
The border between Canada and the U. S. is 8,891 kilometers – or 5,524,611 miles, and the border of Canada next to Alaska is 2,475 kilometers – or 1,537,894 miles. Without including Alaska’s rough border, the total is around 5,246 miles of border, of which we would have to cover, which is a lot considering the cost of labor and materials! The cost of this border, excluding the border with Alaska, including raw steel, cement, labor cost, planning and purchasing land, would be roughly $18 billion U. S. dollars. That’s more than $23 billion Canadian dollars after inflation! Just think of what both the U. S. and Canada could do instead with that money.
This border would not only cost a lot of money to build, but would cost the U. S. lots in trade. Canada and the U. S. have one of the closest trade relationships, not to mention lots of tourism. In 2013, $728 billion in goods and services were traded between the two countries.
Another point I want to address is that the illegal immigrants from Canada don’t seem to be a problem, considering that our southern neighbor’s illegal immigrants are nearly triple that of Canada’s (from the Migration Policy Institute). Most immigrants that come from Canada get a lawful permanent residence. They usually come because they have immediate family here in the U. S. They also come because they are sponsored by employers. Compared to other foreign-born U. S. immigrants, Canadian immigrants are more likely to experience a lower poverty rate because they usually have higher incomes. They are also more likely to have health insurance, are college educated and are less likely to be limited in the English language. Seventy-nine percent of Canadians in the U. S. speak English at home, and 11% don’t. This is why they are more likely to be employed in business, arts, occupation, management and science. Forty-three percent of Canadians have a bachelor’s degree or higher, as compared to that of other immigrants, which is only 28%.
Do you think the U. s. has this much time, money and materials to waste?
The government should be focusing money towards bigger, more important problems that the U. S. has, rather than building a fence that isn’t necessary.