In the last few years, the United States has been intellectually checked out from the rest of advanced world. While the publics in Norway, Australia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and so forth have been figuring out the role played by mass immigration in the ongoing economic troubles, American elites have been on the offensive against the American people, trying to push through amnesty via sheer effrontery.

But the recent victory of renegade economist David Brat over Eric Cantor on the issue of cheap labor shows that the U.S. is finally catching up. In turn, that may be having ramifications abroad. From the Toronto Globe & Mail:

Ottawa unveils sweeping changes to foreign-workers program

BILL CURRY

OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Jun. 20 2014, 1:34 PM EDT

The Conservative government is launching a detailed and sweeping reform of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, splitting it in two and imposing a long list of measures aimed at reducing its use for low-wage positions.

Employment Minister Jason Kenney and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced the changes Friday, following a briefing for news media.

The announcement is a clear attempt to tackle criticisms head-on, by moving to shrink the program in low-wage sectors and to improve the quality and reliability of data that inform the federal government’s labour market policies.

Employer groups in low-wage sectors had urged the government not to link the program to unemployment rates. They will be disappointed – and are not likely to be pleased news that user fees will rise.