Category: Rights

Seems some folks want more on the Israeli-Lebanon / citizens of convenience thing. At least that’s what my emails are saying lately. Well, don’t worry. I’ll have more on that in due time but, like most other people in the counrty, my attention has been more occupied with domestic matters lately.

Believe me when I tell you that I’ve got plenty left to say and I don’t seem to be alone, either. More and more people that I run into are starting to ask the same questions and demanding the same answers. Like this guy right here, taken from today’s Freeps’ letters to the editor page:

As a refugee from Soviet hordes in 1944, and later as an employee of the UN International Refugee Organization in Europe, as well as a “genuine” Canadian since 1954, I wish to comment on the Lebanese-Canadians in Lebanon.

The mass hysteria by some (mostly liberal and NDP politicians, and the left-leaning media) about Conservative government’s purported dereliction of duty is deplorable.

Leftist politicians are wooing future voters rather than helping the evacuees. The media are spinning half-truths and outright lies, based on their beef with the Conservative government. Yes, we have legal responsibility to help genuine Canadians, but I do not believe that same obligation applies to the “convenient” Canadians.

It is refreshing to see many people, including some responsible MPs on both sides of the aisle, and several respected opinion makers, expressing the same thoughts.

Misuse of dual (or even multiple) citizenship, introduced by the Liberals 30 years ago, will no doubt be addressed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in due course.

In the meantime, let us hope that the evacuees being brought back to Canada at Canadian taxpayers’ expense will appreciate this generosity and stop complaining and blaming our government for their supposed neglect to provide air-conditioned buses, ferries and accommodations.

Edward G. Iskauskas
London

I like the way this guy thinks.

First off, I’d like to thank all the lovely people for all the nice emails I’ve been getting over the last couple of days. You are very clever little boys and girls and I can’t ever recall such creative speculations as to my ancestry. Did you come up with all those clever quips all by yourselves or did your mommies help you out? Birdbrains.

Moving right along, I’ve been doing some thinking (yes, a dangerous pastime, but I have so much time on my hands these days) and a bit of math and I’ve come smack up against a rather interesting question: how is it that the US, with over 10 times our population, has only half as many people to evacuate from Lebanon as we do? There are estimated to be about 25,000 Americans getting out of Dodge while there are supposedly up to 50,000 “Canadians” trapped in the same country. Is it just me, or do these numbers not seem to add up?

The answer, sadly, is that they do add up; and for a very simple reason: dual citizenship. Now there’s an idea whose best before date passed long ago. It is far more common than many folks think for some to immigrate to Canada, stay just long enough to get citizenship (so that they can get all the benefits of being Canadian), and then bugger off back “home” to live out their lives with all the advantages of Canadian citizenship while contributing absolutely nothing in return.

What I would like to know is this: how many of those who are bitching and whining about the government taking too long to get their sorry arses out of Lebanon are people who haven’t been in this country in decades? Why should Canada be obligated to look after them after they deliberately chose to live in a country where terrorist organizations like Hezbolla have more clout than the government of the country?

It is time to seriously re-examine the whole idea of dual citizenship. Too many are merely “paper Canadians,” citizens of convenience and nothing more. They have no loyalty to Canada whatsoever and Canada shouldn’t be seen as owing them a damned thing. And don’t even bother trying to give me any of that multicult “but they contribute to our great cultural mosaic” bullshit. What kind of contribution are they making when they aren’t even here, and haven’t been for decades?

When first-generation immigrants who became Canadian citizens choose to return to live permanently to their country of origin, they should be stripped of Canadian citizenship, period. Canada should not be a country of convenience for anyone. These people were never really Canadian in the first place and it’s high time that we stopped calling them such.

We finally got some good news from Captain Check-Out-My-Buns-In-This-Wetsuit and his gang: “I’m pleased to be here today to announce the government’s plan to eliminate the costly and ineffective long-guns registry and to put in place a law enforcement system that will lead to reduced crime with firearms,” Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day trumpeted at a news conference yesterday. He also promised a one-year amnesty for anyone failing to register their rifles or shotguns.

I know, I know; nobody can really be surprised by this, especially after the AG ripped the CFC a new one in her latest report, but there seems to be a lot of bellyaching going on from all directions. And not just from the usual handwringing suspects.

Defenders of this colossal commode that the government has been throwing our money down say that Day’s actions add up to nothing more than a transparent attempt to make good on a Tory campaign promise whilst giving the deke to a minority Commons. Former justice minister Irwin Cotler bleated that declaring amnesty without Parliament’s permission is “an abuse of process. You cannot go ahead and suspend the application of the law.” The Law being that thing that, as we all know, Liberals never, ever, ever stray outside of. Gimme a break.

NDP moonbat Joe Comartin chimed in with “They know there’s not enough support in the country or in the House of Commons to get that amendment through that will do away with the long-gun registry.” Sure there isn’t. Canadians don’t like right-wing ideas; they scare us. That’s why Harper will never be Prime Minister. Oops, waitaminit…

On the other hand, not-so-well-armed right-wing nutjobs (not unlike me) who are eager to fill up those empty slots in the gun rack without the government snout up their rear ends are moaning that the damn thing still isn’t dead yet. Most of expected this thing to croak at high noon the day after the election. Having heard so many hollow election promises from Grits over the years, we’re starting to react to any setback with suspicion, almost as if by reflex. It’s enough to get you thinking about Pavlov’s dogs.

Day says that they needn’t worry, legislation to drive a stake into this bloodsucker is coming and the amnesty gives law-abiding gun owners a chance to, well, to abide by the law “as it is — or the law as it will be at May 17 a year from now.” The clear unspoken message here for gun owners is simple: sit tight and wait this thing out. Because the little squawklets in the lefty peanut gallery are right about one thing this time: with most of the Opposition willing to defend this waste, the chances of the Tories being able to kill it in Parliament are damn slim indeed. Even a senior Tory insider (whose name wasn’t published) agreed with that.

“We’ll put it in the window” he said. Probably sometime in the spring, with a final vote (where the Opposition will likely dump it) sometime in the fall. In the meantime, he said, the Tories intend to “bleed the thing to death.” Funding for the CFC will be cut by $10 million this year.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that very little is going to be accomplished with a petty, partisan and obstructionist Opposition in the Commons. More and more, it is beginning to look like a good idea for Harper to go to the polls sooner rather than later in order to get a majority mandate from the Canadian public and finally start to get some real work done.