How is it that someone that was born in Canada, lived & worked here their entire life can be refused a job or a chance at education....while a new resident, from another land is given money, a home and access to jobs & schooling?
Where have we gone wrong? And who exactly is 'we'?
I was born in Canada, New Brunswick to be more specific. I've lived and worked in both New Brunswick and Ontario. I've worked such long days that my children were all asleep by the time I got home & I was so tired I cried. I've also run into bad luck a few times, lost my home and been unable to find work in almost 2 years....I find it quite appalling to find in my mailbox a brochure from my local MP asking for my vote on whether newcomers to Canada should receive better health/dental benefits & opportunity than Canadian citizens. How did this even become an issue? Why should it be a question?
Does it make sense that the government should be handing over thousands of dollars to 'new' Canadians.....when 'true' Canadians go hungry or homeless?
Who has made these decisions and what could they possibly be thinking?! The worst part is, the wording of the flyer suggested that it was already going on. Not asking if it should start, but if it should continue.
I have a very hard time with the way the system works as it is, let alone having new issues like this arise. We Canadians, work hard for our money, (most of us) long work days, short vacation time. Raises are few & far between. Most of us can't even afford to go anywhere on our time off. I saw a picture online the other day that showed a man sitting in his backyard with his feet in a kiddie pool. The caption said, 'I can't afford to go on vacation so I'm just going to drink until I don't know where I am'. It was meant to be a joke. But sadly, it's not funny if it's true.
You can be sure that the politicians' families are not going hungry. Or without anything. They have private jets, after all. They have to spend our tax dollars on something. And what exactly are they working at to earn this money? Oh yes, their job is to listen to the people's needs and make things right.
Last Fall, I tried to arrange college tuition for myself. There was so much red tape to go through to get funding, I ran out of time. Yet there are countries that offer secondary education at no cost. Each step I took seemed to cause more steps (if that is possible and I know it is). I contacted our local members of parliament to see if any of them knew of grants for stay-at-home Mom's or single parents wanting to get back in the work force. They simply turned me towards other organizations that also had no answers.
The only way I could get funding was through an OSAP loan, which would need to be repaid. For the 2 years I would be in school, I would not be working. My only income would have been that tuition loan. And then once I had my degree & began to work (hopefully) I would have to start paying off that loan. At which point are we supposed to feel that we've finally gotten ahead?
By the time I was 3/4 of the way through the process, I was told that it was too late to start the class...as it had already began 3 weeks ago. It was about one month later that I received a flyer stating that our government was awarding $10,000 to 'new' citizens for business start-up & education costs.
We work our asses off to pay our taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, taxes on services, taxes on our food...and then we even have taxes taken off of our income. People that have had their home for years, generations even...having the mortgage long paid off are now losing their homes because they can't afford the taxes due to the government.
With all the money that is going to the government from every little resource....shouldn't they be in a surplus by now? How is it that the government is always short on funds? Re-paying loans, which oddly enough, we have to make the re-payment payments for them. I remember seeing on my Hydro One bill that a portion of my bill was paying off debts incurred by the Hydro company.
Wouldn't it be great if I could pay my phone bill and include a breakdown of portions of it that are missing because I had to put it towards another loan or bill....and have that amount forgiven?
I used to work for a bank in 3 different locations. I had first hand knowledge of what people were paying, what they had in their accounts & what they were doing with their money. It didn't take long to realize that the banks were rewarding the rich and penalizing the poor. Did you know that if you have thousands of dollars in your bank account, that you don't have to pay your monthly fee? The people that can afford to pay the fee & not miss it, don't have to. But the people that are living paycheque to paycheque on a tight budget have to worry about having enough left in that account to cover their bank fees.
We hear all the time in the news that the Canadian government is so very helpful with the rest of the world. We send money to Africa, Uganda, money to help disaster victims & third world countries. It sounds as if we are doing great, doesn't it? To be able to afford the luxury of having so much that we can share with the less fortunate. Unfortunately, we have men, women & children right in our own backyard that can't afford new shoes or food for their supper...let alone a trip to the movies or a new car.
And where do you think the money comes from? The taxes that we are forced to pay. So that we don't become criminals or heathens in our own home. Our own children are being told it's not right to sing 'O Canada' in the schools because it is offending these newcomers. Our own children can't afford to go to camp or play hockey.
I read an article recently that said newly arrived immigrants are encouraged to get involved in politics. So some day, and it could be soon, our Canadian decisions could be made by not-so-quite Canadians.
We need to stand up and get our voices back.
The government is supposed to be 'of the people' .... 'for the people' .... to represent our thoughts & beliefs. To be the voice of the Canadian logger, the fisherman, the school teacher and yes, even the stay-at-home Mom. People all over the world come to Canada to visit.
They fall in love. For many reasons.
But if we continue making changes to accommodate each new arrival, what will we have left that is truly Canadian?
