Myth # 16 "Canada is a big country with
a big heart"
You can say that again. Five per cent of Canada's land is arable. Does
that put things into perspective? Unlike Europeans who were prepared to
make something of nothing, most of today's immigrants head straight for
Vancouver or Toronto (33% of all immigrants to Canada settle in Toronto)
- with predictable ecological repercussions, including the ongoing paving-over
of that small percentage of arable land. In August 1997, in the wake of
reports that southern Ontario is one of the most polluted regions on the
continent, the provincial government announced plans to improve drinking
water.
Even so, officials admit that spending $200-million to upgrade overburdened
sewage treatment plants will not even come close to covering what's needed.
In November 1996, the Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine noted
that Vancouver's urban sprawl was chiefly responsible for pollution in
the Fraser Valley, so much so that scientists warn that water in some aquifers
may never be drinkable again. Far from addressing the real cause of this
collapse, none of our politicians would presume to suggest we look at the
effects of unchecked immigration.
Quite the reverse, they are agitating for even more, because, as always
in Canada, immigration boils down to an (essentially suspect) economic
argument. They have generated - or may generate - money. Therefore, we
need them. Therefore, you'd better shut up, or we'll have to assume you're
a racist, and we wouldn't want that, would we? Will we ever know (or be
permitted to know) the actual costs associated with revising our infrastructure,
the demands on the land, the ecological impact, the expense in terms of
health, education and welfare?
Unlikely. The very notion that it is somehow 'honourable' to trade
citizenship for cash is repugnant. Apart from theoretically calculable
costs, there is another question looming larger all the time. The almost
incidental possibility that this may just be a self-imposed act of genocide.
Generally speaking, nothing concentrates the mind quite so readily as the
threat of imminent death, but Canadians have been so thoroughly lied to,
mistreated and misled, we no longer dare trust or follow our instincts.
Like a nation of Stepford Wives, harsh realities send us hurrying into
the kitchen to do a little baking. "How about a little dessert?"