Wide open immigration a really bad mistake

Currently there appear to be two opposing views on immigration to Canada. There’s the view of individuals like Liberal leader Stephane Dion and NDP MP Olivia Chow, who believe that Canada’s doors should be wide open to anyone at any time under any circumstances.

---

This view is countered by the idea that maybe we should be more circumspect in selecting our immigrants, or as Olivia Chow disparagingly put it, put our focus on “people who are good for Canada”. Needless to say, I belong to the latter group, the one that believes we should only allow immigrants into this country if they have something meaningful to contribute. I don’t know about Stephane or Olivia or all those like them who seem to revel in the act of turning this once great nation into a hotel, and not even a ritzy hotel, but a second-rate fleabag, but we can’t continue to dilute our population base with newcomers who do not have marketable job skills, a work ethic, are in need of medical care, are uneducated or otherwise constrained from contributing. In the interest of keeping things honest and above board, I should like to disclose at this point that I, too am an immigrant to these shores. When I arrived here some 40 years ago, I applied under an immigration regimen that allowed entry based on a system of points, which ultimately selected those immigrants who had skills or education and who would not be a net drain on Canadian society. Back in those days being an immigrant and collecing welfare were grounds for deportation. Over decades of Liberal pandering to ethnic minorities and the ill conceived policy of multiculturalism, Canada’s immigration policy devolved into the joke it is today. No one immigrates to Canada with the intention of becoming assimilated into the body politic, of becoming a Canadian or even of contributing to Canadian society. It’s all about what Canada can do for me. If you’re looking for proof of this attitude, then look no further than to the thousands of “Canadian” citizens residing in Lebanon who demanded to be evacuated during the 2005 war with Israel set off by Hezbollah. Not only did these “Canadians” demand to be evacuated immediately, they wanted first-class accommodations back to Canada. One can’t blame them, though. They are merely taking advantage of their entitlement under the law. A visit to any of Canada’s larger cities provides countless examples of immigrants who have landed here only to work the system. Under the former Liberal government’s “Family Reunification Program” thousands of aged relatives of East Indian and Asian immigrants are flocking to Canada to take advantage of free health care. Some of these individuals arrive with serious preexisting medical conditions, many of which have gone untreated for years. The infamous Khadr family, who left Canada because they did not want their sons to go to Canadian schools, which they believed to be “infested with homosexuals”, found their way back to these shores quickly enough when as a result of their terrorist activities one of the sons required advanced medical care. Others are coming here because the welfare is good, providing access to money in astounding quantities. If you can gain refugee status, all your troubles are over, compliments of the Canadian taxpayer. If perchance you happen to have multiple wives, the deal is even sweeter as Canadian taxpayers are eager to pay generous welfare stipends for each and every one of your wives...and the cheque doesn’t even go to them, but goes directly to you, so as to respect your cultural sensibilities. Of particular concern is the lack of responsibility or social decorum that seems to categorize so many newcomers. A small, but significant microcosm of this is playing itself out right now in Toronto in the form of Noelle Mowatt, the pregnant Jamaican teenager on welfare, whose child the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) is planning to seize at birth because of “her inability to be able to offer proper care to the child when the child is born”. Another deciding factor in the CAS’s decision to seize the baby is the fact this girl is living with an abusive boyfriend who is likely to harm the baby. How in the hell did she ever gain legal admittance to Canada? She doesn’t have a job, is burdening society through dependence on welfare, lives with a guy who beats her, is going to give birth any day now and to top it off, has another child living in Jamaica who is presumably waiting to join its mom in Canada. And all this compliments of the Canadian taxpayer. While I admire Mr. Dion’s and Ms Chow’s generosity, perhaps it should be pointed out to them that they are being generous with others’ money. As citizens of Canada all of us, regardless of whether we were born here or abroad, have a responsibility to ensure that the country encourages the best and the brightest to immigrate. If that involves immigration officials making a value judgment of whether or not the presence of anyone wishing to relocate here is “good for Canada”; then so be it. I would expect and prefer our immigration officials to ensure that only those who would ultimately enhance Canadian society be allowed to immigrate. There’s nothing wrong with telling those who do not qualify that they do not qualify.