Immigration was what I was talking about. There was a boat full of illegal immigrants who ended up in Vancouver last week, and it sparked the old controversy again. What we need, is a solution to the problem of illegal people smuggling. The solution comes in two steps: getting rid of the smugglers, and making immigration laws easier.
First, getting rid of the smugglers. Now, these guys are total bastards, it's quite clear. They swindle honest people in Asia, promising them a better life, blah blah, then they load them onto a boat, along with a zillion other smugglees (is that a word?), into some kind of cage, which is ridiculously small for the number of people in there. No oxygen, food, water, sanitation facilities, it's pretty much sink or swim, some people survive the Pacific crossing and some don't. If you're lucky enough (or unlucky enough, considering the stench in the containers at the end of the journey) to survive, you have to illegally find your way into Canadian or American society. I guess the smugglers help at that end, providing fake identities and stuff, I'm not too sure. So, you get a job sweeping floors at the drug store getting minimum wage, and for the rest of your life, like half your salary goes to the damn smuggler or something like that. So....it's not a great system. And illegal to boot. What they should do is get rid of all the people smugglers. Tough job of course, but a message needs to be sent. Make harsh penalties, and carry them out maybe. Life in jail, or capital punishment, whatever. The details are just details. So, that's step one. Get rid of these wolves.
Step two: throw open the doors. Let anybody in who wants to come in. Our immigration laws are way too strict. We haven't really progressed much beyond the head tax and exclusion laws. This country was built on immigration (if you don't count the natives). But effectively, immigrants formed the main part of the population for the first three hundred years of British North America. And then, all of a sudden, the immigrants took a look around them, and said whoa! Better not let any more immigrants in! They'll take our jobs! Our land! Our whatever! Bad news all around right? It really got bad in the early 1900's and late 1800's. You know how it is. And here's something else interesting, Canada let in the fewest number of Jewish refugees during the Second World War of all Allied countries. We let in five hundred refugees, while leaving the other six million to die in concentration camps. They came in boats too, to be turned away. Maybe it's something about boats....
Anyways, so, let them all in. They're all hardworking people, otherwise they wouldn't be trying to come and make a better life for themselves. I guess yeah, there may be Russian Mafia, or Chinese gangs or Honduran drug dealers. But whatever. The benefits of immigrants would far outweight the potential criminals, I feel. I know many many immigrants, recent and distant, who have done nothing but good for the society. They work hard, and they make the people already living here work harder. So....you know, if people are scared of hard work, then sure, criticize immigrants. Otherwise, shut up and let them in. I don't see the problem. The damn immigration test proves that they'll know more about Canada than I, a native born citizen do. And they swear an oath of allegience....something that I, also, have never done. Where is the danger?