Close Reading

I saw it first hand in my workplace. A major delivery company (not Amazon). Used to be mostly Canadians, until about 2 years ago. The majority are now young Indian guys who speak their own language amongst themselves. Even the new manager speaks Hindi. Work conditions have worsened because these people are willing to do much more for low wages. They drive erratically and treat the country like their playground to make money. This is the future of Canada.

Robert De Niro’s statement on Donald is perfect. \n\n “I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad men. I’ve examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty. Yet there’s something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I don’t see a bad man. Truly. I see an evil one. Over the years, I’ve met gangsters here and there. This guy tries to be one, but he can’t quite pull it off. There’s such a thing as “honor among thieves.” Yes, even criminals usually have a sense of right and wrong. Whether they do the right thing or not is a different story — but — they have a moral code, however warped. Donald Trump does not. He’s a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself — not the people he was supposed to lead and protect, not the people he does business with, not the people who follow him, blindly and loyally, not even the people who consider themselves his “friends.” He has contempt for all of them. We New Yorkers got to know him over the years that he poisoned the atmosphere and littered our city with monuments to his ego. We knew first hand that this was someone who should never be considered for leadership. We tried to warn the world in 2016. The repercussions of his turbulent presidency divided America and rattled New York City beyond imagination. Remember how we were jolted by crisis in early 2020, as a virus swept the world. We lived with Donald Trump’s bombastic behavior every day on the national stage, and we suffered as we saw our neighbors piling up in body bags. The man who was supposed to protect this country put it in peril, because of his recklessness and impulsiveness. It was like an abusive father ruling the family by fear and violent behavior. That was the consequence of New York’s warning getting ignored. Next time, we know it will be worse. Make no mistake: the twice-impeached, 4-time indicted Donald Trump is still a fool. But we can’t let our fellow Americans write him off like one. Evil thrives in the shadow of dismissive mockery, which is why we must take the danger of Donald Trump very seriously. So today we issue another warning. From this place where Abraham Lincoln spoke — right here in the beating heart of New York — to the rest of America: This is our last chance. Democracy won’t survive the return of a wannabe dictator. And it won’t overcome evil if we are divided. So what do we do about it? I know I’m preaching to the choir here. What we’re doing today is valuable, but we have to take today into tomorrow – take it outside these walls. We have to reach out to the half of our country who have ignored the hazards of Trump and, for whatever reason, support elevating him back into the White House. They’re not stupid, and we must not condemn them for making a stupid choice. Our future doesn’t just depend on us. It depends on them. Let’s reach out to Trump’s followers with respect. Let’s not talk about “democracy.” “Democracy” may be our holy grail, but to others it is just a word, a concept, and in their embrace of Trump, they’ve already turned their backs on it. Let’s talk about right and wrong. Let’s talk about humanity. Let’s talk about kindness. Security for our world. Safety for our families. Decency. Let’s welcome them back. We won’t get them all, but we can get enough to end the nightmare of Trump, and fulfill the mission of this “Stop Trump Summit.””

Thank you for summarizing these key changes! Many problems are actually the Canadian immigration system not learning from the mistakes of the US system and now it’s suffering the same consequences. If Canada cuts down on those selected immigrations but still takes in refugees, it’s only going to make anti-immigrant sentiment worse. Selected immigrants are allowed into Canada to help alleviate Canadian issues…or at least people who come through Express Entry are less likely to become a burden. On the other hand, refugees, given their unfortunate circumstances, really need to rely on a lot of social services and resources to help them resettle. The US has eliminated pretty much all non-humanitarian immigration that’s why immigrants are so demonized there. Americans only feel the drags of refugees and asylum seekers (even though ethically we need to protect them) and there is no selected immigration to balance that out. Yet this round of Canadian policy change is heading exactly that direction.\n\nIt used to be international students in Canada are not paying a lot more tuition than Canadian students. But Canadian universities saw how much money universities in the US are making so they asked the federal government to change the policy to enable them to charge international students several times the regular tuition (whereas in countries like France, international students actually pay less than citizens). So now Canadian universities rely too much on international students to operate and it becomes an exploitative relationship even before students step foot on the campus. The new PGWP eligibility is awful because students can make contributions in every field. It might (and that's a big if) address the pressing problems, but it won't help Canada grow.\n\nI thought the new language requirement was interesting. Some Canadians who immigrated decades ago when the bar was really low still speak English poorly and now they are saying people can’t come to Canada because their language skills are not sufficient. Another point about language is if you apply through Express Entry now, even if you scored the highest language score, given how competitive the pool is, you still won’t get selected. So it’s a given that you need to be fluent in one of the languages at least to get an invitation. Express Entry also selects only the top people, I saw the head of The Institute for Canadian Citizenship in interviews talking about those top-tier people only expect the best treatment/lifestyle when they come to Canada. That's why many of them leave after seeing these Canadian problems play out. But I believe a good Canadian life is not about living in a high rise in Vancouver and Toronto, driving an expensive car, or buying luxury items...it's about the communities, nature and middle-class comfort. So the system is giving PRs to the wrong kind of people (just like mismatched people when hiring that don't align with company values).\n\nThis brings me to the last frustrating issue. There were so many people who attended “fake” universities and bought “fake” jobs to earn points to get an Express Entry invitation. And it's clear that the government wasn't proactively catching these abuses. They are taking up spots from those who try to earn the points fair and square. If I understand correctly, Canada doesn’t send these people away if they are found out (since some of them were scammed). So they still take up immigration quotas.\n\nI have wanted to move to Canada for a long time. I have visited Canada many times, hiking trails through the coastline and fjords, climbing mountains and glaciers. I lived in Montreal for two months to improve my French and I was told by my homestay family that I was the first student they had who didn’t complain about the cold (I wish the winter never ends so I can skate or xc ski in the parks year-round). I have probably seen more Canada than many Canadians and I love every bit of it. But the opportunity for me to even get a shot to move there is pretty much nonexistent now. If only there was a way for the system to allow people who really care about Canada to get a shot at being part of this beautiful country.\n\nThank you for making these videos.

This was happening in Australia in the noughties — I saw it first hand in 2004 ? although I live in the US now. \n\nThis exploitation is around in many countries, not just Canada. I’m surprised that anyone is surprised about this — it’s been going on for decades. If you think this is bad, check out what happens in the UK or the US. \n\nBesides, Pierre and Justin Trudeau are on record standing proud about hosting and nurturing terrorists from Punjab during the 1980s and 2020s. It’s like the Canadian Government needs this to happen.