The bulletin describes how Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Canada's new Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, and others have accepted immigration industry propaganda.
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HAVE CHAREST, KENNEY, CAMPBELL AND OTHERS BOUGHT A BRIDGE ?
Like many Canadians, Canada's politicians who justify current immigration fall into two groups. Some are clearly deceiving Canadians. Others are very naive about the immigration issue and the machinations of Canada's immigration industry.
Many of the naive think that they are defenders of some great humanitarian and enlightened movement. But the truth is that when we examine their reasons for defending high immigration, we could justifiably conclude that the naive have bought the proverbial bridge.
Canadians can decide which politicians are the deceivers and which are the naive.
For example, last week, Quebec Premier Jean Charest stated that he would do all that he could to retain foreign students after they graduate from Quebec post-secondary institutions.
According to Charest, Quebec is going to need these people. This statement may win Charest votes in his current election campaign. And the Quebec immigration industry will undoubtedly support what Charest says. But where is the evidence to verify that this claim is true? Charest presents none.
Until he does, Quebecers should assume there is no need for most of these recent graduates. If Mr. Charest is going to quote anyone, how about going to eminent Queen's University economist, Allan Green, who has said that Canada can satisfy most of its labour needs by using its own population rather than by resorting to immigration.
A second example came last week from Canada's new immigration Minister, Jason Kenney. He stated that immigration levels would continue as usual even though unemployment is rising and the signs of recession are becoming more threatening. To see an explanation for this statement, Canadians need only note that in the new federal cabinet, Mr. Kenney's title is “Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism”. If anyone had any doubt that our government's immigration policy is catering to the immigrant vote, his title now demonstrates that very shamelessly.
This is a long way from the years when our federal government called an immigration minister the “Minister of Manpower and Immigration”—clearly indicating that the number of immigrants Canada would accept depended on the number of Canadians who had no jobs.
When Mr. Kenney was interviewed last week about immigration, he stated that Canada would not follow the example recently announced by immigration ministers in Australia and the UK. There, both have said that they would consider reducing immigration if unemployment rose. In fact, Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd elaborated by saying that Australia had followed this policy in the past and would do so in the future.
If Mr. Kenney doesn't know that Canada had a policy very similar to that in Australia, he should do some serious homework.
Let's be very clear. Mr. Kenney has to justify importing around 250,000 people in Canada's regular immigration programme and an additional 200,000+ Temporary Foreign Workers. The post-1990 tradition of sycophancy to the immigration industry is not a justification. If he is saying that he has offered Canada at the altar of multiculturalism, he should be prepared to face Canada's growing number of unemployed. By maintaining high levels, he is telling unemployed Canadians that the demands of business, the immigration industry and ethnic groups come first. The needs of Canadians come second, third or last.
To his credit, Mr. Kenney has said he will monitor the situation. However, he has also stated that consultations with labour, industry and provincial governments showed that there was still a strong demand for immigrants with the right skills. What consultations is he talking about? Immigration Ministry consultations have for far too long been love-ins with the immigration industry. If he had a Cabinet position requiring him to investigate organized crime, would he consult with Hell's Angels or the Mafia? Has his department ever investigated the profits of the immigration industry? Is he aware that last week, the UK's Immigration minister accurately accused the UK immigration industry of sabotaging UK laws and “playing the system” to get their way?
Mr. Kenney knows that the Alberta Tar Sands, one of the major absorbers of foreign workers, is going into deep freeze. When tar sands oil prices go below $60 per barrel, as they have, tar sands oil is not economical. Even if the Tar Sands prices recover, he should be aware that previous business claims of B.C. and Alberta labour shortages in such occupations as real estate, journalism, music, and dozens of others were preposterous. (See our Nov. 18, 2006 Weekly Bulletin.) Those claims should have been summarily dismissed. They definitely should not have been announced with fanfare at the offices of a Chinese immigration industry organization in Vancouver by former immigration minister Monte Solberg.
Mr. Kenney should have the courage to demand proof from those making these claims. When he sees that their claims are ridiculous, he should tell Mr. Harper that he thinks Canada should end the stupidity and institute a sane immigration policy.
What sense does it make for the Canadian ship to be taking on more passengers as it sails into recession?
A third example has just occurred in British Columbia. Premier Gordon Campbell has just met with the Aga Khan, the leader of Ismaili Muslims in the world. The Aga Khan has thanked Canada for taking many immigrants from the developing world. According to the Aga Khan, many of these people have gone back to help their countries of origin. In his words, Canada is “colonizing the developing world”” !!! If the Aga Khan's speech-writers have learned anything, it is how to spin the immigration issue. In fact, the premier should look upon that statement as one from a supreme bridge-seller.
Mr. Campbell likes to show that he belongs to the group of enlightened. The immigration spinning done by the Aga Khan is a test for him. Several months ago, Campbell introduced a carbon tax in British Columbia and presented himself as the Green premier. However, in commenting recently on the long-term effects of the Olympics, Mr. Campbell stated that he expects the Olympics to generate a significant population increase in British Columbia.
Mr. Campbell has to do some enlightened addition and multiplication. Even those who cannot do much arithmetic should be able to see that the extra emissions from people who settle here after the Olympics will negate any environmental gains his carbon tax may generate.
In describing the 2010 Olympics which B.C. will host, he has referred to his province as “the best place on Earth”. But if his belief in perpetual population growth (almost completely driven by immigration) materializes, there is little doubt of the consequences. It will drive British Columbia down the road towards resembling some of the worst places on Earth.
