Immigration: When Is It Too Much of A Good Thing.

From Don Pittis, CBC News.

A well-known economic theory says that when it comes to people, you can get too much of a good thing.

As thousands of asylum seekers come across the Canadian border from Trump’s America, there are many Canadian voices, including mainstream Conservatives, who believe we may have reached that point.

A glance at internet comments and letters to the editor shows that some Canadians are reacting emotionally to media reports on the influx of new arrivals. But what about the economics?

Diminishing Returns.

In the economic principle sometimes called the law of diminishing returns, there is a text book example which describes an increasing number of workers coming to help dig in a garden of limited size.

Link to the rest here.

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Opinion. If anyone had ever asked, we would have said that something like 280,000 to 300,000 people immigrate to Canada each year. It is also true that the country could probably absorb 500,000 immigrants each year without major social disruption. It is also our opinion that immigration is a good thing for all of the reasons stated in the story above.

 

Image Credit. Above: Sikh New Year, by Joel Friesen - originally posted to Flickr as Sikhs on the move!, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4655560



 

Busy Summer For Sarnia-Lambton Building Trades.

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer.

Sarnia-Lambton home builders are having a busy summer, even though Sarnia City Hall says the number of building permits issued for single family homes was down this year, as of July.

The latest building permit report for the city showed a total of 66 new single family homes in 2017, as of July, compared to 81 homes in the same seven-month period of 2016.

Lambton County’s building inspection department showed the same trend with a total of 47 new home permits in the first two quarters of the year in the nine municipalities it serves outside of Sarnia and Lambton Shores. That’s down from 60 new home permits the county issued at the same point in 2016, according to a recent report to county council.

Sarnia reported a total of 147 single-family home building permits in 2016, plus 42 multiple family dwellings.

Scott Henderson, president of the Sarnia-Lambton Home Builders Association, said local builders and the tradespeople who work for them have stayed busy this year.

Link to the rest here.

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Startup Hopes to Revolutionize Bottled Water.

From Troy Shantz, The Sarnia Journal.

A California startup hoping to transform the bottled water industry by producing a renewable bottle is building its steppingstone plant in Sarnia in part to capitalize on local expertise, its CEO says.

“One of the reasons why we picked Sarnia was because the labour force is highly-skilled and knows how to do exactly the kind of stuff we’re doing,” said John Bissell, co-founder of Origin Materials. John Bissell is the co-founder and CEO of Origin Materials.

The company has developed a patented process that turns organic waste such as wood chips, wheat straw and corn stalks into a liquid compound called CMF, or chloromethylfurfural.

Construction of the commercial-scale demonstration facility in Sarnia is expected to begin 'soon' and be fully operational by the end of 2018, Bissell said.

Link to the rest here.

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Image: By Leideomangeos - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31047334