I have to admit to being dismayed at Jason Kenney's reaction to Iggy Puff's push to get immigration rules relaxed in light of the Haiti disaster: "Massive resettlement is not a solution to natural disaster..." Immigration is not a bad thing. This country was built on immigration. In fact, based on what I've heard from Albertans, Alberta's economic success was built on provincial immigration.
I found it terribly ironic that I just watched one of the recent converted Wildrose Alliance MLA's on TV explain that "Alberta wants people..." He explained that Alberta's success was based on people coming from elsewhere for the opportunity that exists in Alberta.
Time and time again examples around the world prove that the recipe for prosperity is open and free markets, respect for individual rights, and an openness to new people.
Now I respect Jason Kenney a whole lot. But one thing I've never been able to understand is the ideological inconsistency that many Conservatives have when it comes to immigration. Immigration worked in Alberta, I don't see how any Conservative can argue otherwise when it comes to the country as a whole.
I won't try to deny the problems that currently exist in our immigration system. The type of immigration that has been actively promoted for years by successive Liberal regimes tends to attract those that are more receptive to our large welfare system and the entitlements regime of being Canadian. It's a recipe for abuse that has to be stopped. Further the issues regarding "reasonable accommodation" and the adaption of our social norms for the sake of newcomers is another warping of the system that has to be corrected.
Yet this does not give us license to increase the regulatory burden on new comers to this country. Since when do Conservatives stand for more bureaucracy and more government?
Sorry.Iggy's talking abut the wholesale import of thousands of people who will be a net drain on the Canadian taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteImmigrants built Canada,yes, but not by handing them the keys to the store.
The government is already fast-tracking the relocation of orphans that were in the adoption system pipeline.
ReplyDeleteThat, however, is not sufficient for the do-gooders who want all the orphans taken in without question. Well, here's one question: what if it turns out that the parents or relatives of some of these orphans turn up alive and well and want them back? With the chaos that is Haiti there is every possibility that parents, relatives, and children have become separated for any number of reasons. What happens then? Since the children are already in Canada, does that mean the parents or relatives automatically get to come? If the adoption process has commenced do we tell these children and their prospective parents that the deal is off? Let's wait until the situation returns to some semblance of normalcy before we embark on an ill thought out, helter-skelter child snatching scheme.
As for opening the doors to masses of Haitian refugees: who is to determine if these people are truly refugees or, for that matter, if they are even Haitians? Probably most native Haitians have lost their documents as they fled their crumbling homes. The Caribbean islands are notorious for not having a very competent system of documentation. That has been one of the stumbling blocks in the ongoing talks aimed at finding a way for some of the islands to join Canada. There is no system in place that will establish a person's nationality or place of residence beyond a reasonable doubt. If Canada opens its doors wide, you can bet the number of people claiming to be Haitians will double overnight.
Lets be patient until some system of governmental control is up and running before we start accepting everyone who claims to be a Haitian refugee. Canada will end up taking in many hundreds, and perhaps thousands of Haitians at some point in the future since the island is damaged to the point that it can no longer generate any kind of viable economic system. It will take decades to rebuild that poor, blighted nation to some semblance of a working society and I am sure Canada will do more than its share to see that the people who will face the most hardship during this rebuilding are taken care of.
But let's not give in to some knee-jerk reaction to this disaster and let ourselves be made the victims of our own generosity.
To me, I don't think he got it right. There's something to be said about due process - making sure that who you're bringing into the country is coming to bring something useful to society. As in, not terrorism or laziness, the latter of which you dealt with in your post - people who are attracted to a free ride. Would this make Kenney's comments a little more palatable? Just my two cents...
ReplyDeleteThe Haitians will all end up in Montreal where they are only superficially welcome. Visible minority youths are rarely hired by pure laine quebecois.
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