When the general public does limited research, they can be easily manpulated or victimized unless the facts are readily available. Also, in today's society, we have information everywhere, coming from everywhere. So many people are overwhelmed. They fail to differentiate between what is interesting and what is necessary.But some things need to be well known and clearly understood by the public.
Key opinions which need to be public knowledge.
immigration is a major asset for Canada (it helps pay the bills)
free play is a necessity for children
the economy cannot be ignored (money doesn't grow on trees)
free trade and competition need to be considered
globalization is a fact of life
Immigration is a major asset to Canada:
A recent hate site on Facebook claims to focus on the idea what immigrants need to assimilate into Canadian life. But a lot of unnecessary, toxic hate was expressed, much of it not connected to facts. Anger has been created because they didn't know anything about the process; their guesses were wrong. On top of that, if they realized how important immigrants are to Canada, their attitudes would be drastically changed. Instead we get a lot of hatered which will only serve to make Canada worse. A few of my comments were not going to stop the hatred that roughly 4000 Canadians expressed by liking that Facebook page.Immigrants make our popluation younger, their income tax pays for many of our social services, including healthcare, and generally they have created millions of jobs in Canada. We must always keep in mind that there is a huge difference between the immigrants in Euorope and those in Canada. Canada's biggest problem is not with the immigrants, but with the long time Canadians who make false assumptions and bad guesses about our immigrant problem. They need to look at what is real, at the facts.
Toronto has about 2 million people who were born outside Canada. Yet it's unemployment rate is not that much different from the rest of Canada. That tells us that over a million jobs have been created. So although there are times when an immigrant may be hired instead of a long time Canadian, generally, immigration has been a job creator.
The 2 million immigrants in Toronto result in a larger market for the rest of Canada to sell to. They are also younger than the average long time Canadian population, so it is the immigrants which pay to keep our health care system going, pay to build and run our schools, and pay for other social programs. Having a young and growing population is necessary for a healthy economy, and our immigrants provide us with that. In addition, in a world full of trade agreements, our international trade can be handled better when we have the help of immigrants. Trade with China will probably work better when we have some Chinese-Canadians involved.
Free play is a necessity for children:
There is a huge difference between free play and computer play. Free play is known as preparation for life. The general public must be made aware that a child needs free play for proper physical, mental, and emotional development. While playing, children learn to concentrate, to develop the ability to relate to others, to cooperate and interact. Exessive screen time can damage a child's development. So society can't sit back and let the market decide what parents know and don't know.
PM Stephen Harper is a dictator (and he can't sing):
Many have been upset with changes that have been brought on by PM Stephen Harper. He has chosen to do things which are not consistent with Canada's past reputation. They are things which has hurt Canada's reputation internationally. Some of his actions appear to be anti-Canadian.
(1) Harper pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol,(2) has cut funds to environmental scientists, and(3) belongs to a church which has anti-science beliefs.(4) Harper has turned Canada into a peacemaker instead of a peacekeeper. We used to think that we specialized in peacekeeping, that it is a valuable job and that Canadians have the talent to do it well. But now, our soliders are expected to fight, sometimes for a good cause, and sometimes for causes which are questionable (it appears that Lybia was not a success. Maybe it would have been better off if Gadaffi was still in power?).(5) Harper has also ignored the Kelowna accord which would have benefited the Natives. Instead, he has passed laws in the form of an omnibus bill, so they were put through without proper debate. As a result, the Natives started the "Idle No More Movement" and have been unhappy with our Harper government.
But:
(1) It is true that Harper pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, but key players, the United States and China never were part of that agreement. Staying in would have meant we would have had to pay a huge penalty. The previous Jean Chretien government had not made any environmental changes after signing the protocol, so Harper just continued with the same policy. It could be in Canada's best interests to simply follow the lead of the United States when it comes to the environment.(2) Recently Harper announced $1.5 Billion for Science and Technology.(3) he can't be that strongly anti-Scientist.(4) Canada may actually improve our reputation by being peacemakers, by carrying our weight, and by being activelly involved in NATO. This could help our reputation in the EU and in so doing, improve the free trade agreement with the EU which was signed last spring.(5) Harper also has plans and a budget to deal with the Native situation. Even though Harper did not take the path recommended by the Kelowna accord, he might be getting results. He has promised money for Native schools, so the Natives can start focusing on educating themselves. So with the coming election, Harper has to try to keep his promise, although the oil prices have dropped drastically so nothing is certain.
The Triple E Senate:
Triple E stands for equal, effective, and elected. It was developed by an Alberta farmer and the radio talk shows loved the idea. There was a lot of hype around it so the Reform party and Stephen Harper got on the bandwagon and gained a lot of votes by supporting the Triple E Senate. They even had expensive elections in which Senators were selected, and then the Prime Minister chose to accept the results, to go along with what was happening and appoint those people to the Senate.But:
They could not change the constitution by simply passing laws. They should have realized this at the start. Due to the constitution, Ontario would have to give up its powers and influence and vote in favor of a Triple E Senate which would give more power to the other provinces. Obviously, that was not going to happen. Also, a more effective Senate meant that it would be harder for the government to get things done. Stalemates in the United States Senate are reminders that giving more power to the Senate was probably a very expensive and very bad idea.
back to the start.
©2014 Brian M. Brown All rights reserved.