The Shadows of Canadian Immigration Policy – A Comment on the Metropolis Conference 2012 Eberhard Raithelhuber Envisioning Future Immigration Policies in Toronto Why has it become important to talk about the future of immigration and settlement in Canada? One reason can be found in the major changes happening in this policy sector for some years, most notably since the Tory government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to power in 2006. These changes, which some think to be paradigmatic, have lead to developments similar to what can be observed in other world regions that have been affected by growing globalization and neoliberal politics. This makes the Canadian case also interesting for a variety of scholars who are interested in a comparative and historical perspective (e.g. Bauder, 2011; Triadafilopoulos, 2012). It is not surprising that the 14 th Metropolis Conference (February 29 to March 3 2012) also took stock of these developments, under the title “Future Immigration Policies: Challenges and Opportunities for Canada.” Starting out 15 years ago, the national Metropolis Project now has five centers across Canada and has become the major platform for research on immigration and settlement. As the final funding period for the Metropolis Project is coming to a close, the Conference brought together in Toronto more than a thousand researchers, community workers, policy makers, and NGO representatives from Canada and beyond. Its unique international, intersectorial and interdisciplinary composition turned the Metropolis Conference into something special – a large platform and a place to discuss research findings and their policy implications. Since it is impossible to summarize the whole Conference, the following contribution offers a selective commentary on some of its aspects from a perspective interested in transnationalism in social work. I will conclude with a short outlook on future aspects for research and practice. The Neoliberal Winds of Change and the Negative Impact of Growing Insecurity One of the threads of the Metropolis Conference 2012, and the focus of the first plenary session, was the link between immigration, innovation, and entrepreneurship. This issue derived its importance from the observable demographic changes and growing global economic competitiveness. As Geoffrey Cameron, co-author of the book “Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future” (Goldin/Cameron/Balarajan, 2011), said in his statement, the future will bring labor scarcity in many countries. Hence, according to Cameron and others, the competition between nation states for skilled labor will increase even more as large emerging economies are joining the global hunt.