The voice of sanity on this file is Jason Kenney. Yes, that Jason Kenney. The Honourable Minister Tweeted that Disappointed w/ David Suzuki's stridently anti-immigration views.He calls immigration "crazy" because Canada's "full"
and then Tweeted Suzuki's views are toxic & irresponsible: "Canada is full. Our immigration policy is sickening. Its crazy. There's no more room in Canada. and then Tweeted one more time There has been no media coverage of D Suzuki's extreme anti-immigration views.What would happen if a prominent conservative said same thing?
OMG, tell me about it, I never thought I would agree with him but I do on this file.
WFDS
How about quoting from the original exchange in L'Express, where when questioned further on environmentalist concerns with population growth, natural resources and immigration policy in Autralia as follows :
ReplyDelete"En Australie, les environnementalistes s'opposent à la croissance démographique et à l'immigration en soutenant que les ressources naturelles ne les supporteraient pas. Qu'en pensez-vous?"
Suzuki replied :
"Oh, je crois que le Canada est plein aussi! Même si c'est le deuxième plus grand pays au monde, notre surface utile est réduite. Notre politique d'immigration est écoeurante: nous pillons les pays du Sud en les privant de leurs futurs cadres et nous voulons augmenter notre population pour favoriser la croissance de notre économie. C'est dingue!"
In response to L'Express's query concerning refugees:
"C'est pourtant un peu égoïste de vouloir fermer la porte derrière soi..."
Suzuki replied :
"Ça ne veut pas dire que nous n'avons pas de responsabilité envers ceux qui peinent à survivre ailleurs. Mais il n'y a plus de place. Toutefois, le Canada devra toujours ouvrir ses portes à ceux qui souffrent de l'oppression ou d'une urgence. Lorsque dans les années 1970, nous avons accueilli 50 000 boat people du Vietnam, j'ai été particulièrement fier d'être canadien."
It is quite evident from the exchange, with the initial comment related to Australia's immigration policies and environmentalist concerns with such policies, that Suzuki was addressing the economic argument that immigration is necessary for sustained growth, and not complaining with respect to the ethnic or cultural origins of Canada's immigrants. He was addressing the issue - is immigration necessary or beneficial to Canada, to the extent we are presently pursuing it - and additionally voiced a complaint with respect to a "brain drain" on many third world countries. He did add that Canada does have a responsibility with respect to refugee applicants, and voiced no complaints with respect to continuation of such policies.
Yet Jason Kenney labels Suzuki an "anti-immigrant extremist" for voicing such views and you repeat such accusations and label Kenney a "voice of sanity". Other than catering to the needs of corporate Canada with the Foreign Worker Program and pursuing electoral political objectives with ethnic communities with respect to family class applications, does the current government really have some rational, coherent plan with respect to Canada's future growth?