Merit-based immigration is not the issue or the problem.  The issue is illegal refugees without English/French, job skills, money to support themselves, and a will to integrate.  To say Canada is blind to religion on refugee intake is misleading because most of the illegals coming across the border now are Muslim and will continue to be until the Mexican uptake mushrooms, which will be soon.  And after the paid wait for their hearing, refugee applicants in Canada will just go underground if they not accepted.  They will not be deported, and communities of illegals will swell.  This is the reality.  The merit-based immigration is a parallel system hardly related to the refugee intake which highlights vulnerability (read dependence and safety net-intensive).