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by robterrin 3236 days ago
I appreciate your view point and wish it were true, but Canada is way less diverse than the United States. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Canada)

Research shows that as diversity increases, so do political difficulties. Homogeneity is credited for a lot of policy successes in Scandinavia. Canada is simply another example of this, plus it is one of the earth's biggest petro-states.

It is less a cosmopolitain melting pot and more like Minnesota with the oil wealth of Texas. Vancouver and Toronto are admirable exceptions.
2 comments
mabbo 3236 days ago
You're not wrong. I grew up in the most Conservative area of Ontario (Ottawa Valley) and can't imagine ever going back. It's one of those places where people are always pointing out that "hey not everyone is racist around here", but everyone knows a few guys who after a couple beers will go on rants about 'sending them all back'.

I now live in the most diverse part of Toronto. My building probably has speakers of a least a dozen languages. I love it here.

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mabbo 3236 days ago
Unrelated to my other reply...

> plus it is one of the earth's biggest petro-states.

This is killing us economically. Ten years of Harper's policies pushing us harder into economic reliance on oil, now oil is way down in price and our economy is going with it.

This is why we need immigration and education: to build a stronger economy that isn't reliant on natural resources.

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hervature 3236 days ago
If you're going to argue against oil, at least be impartial. Justin Trudeau is essentially continuing Harper's efforts to increase oil production in the oilsands.

You're vision of "a stronger economy that isn't reliant on natural resources" is one of the main points of the Alberta Heritage Fund [0]. Even Albertans recognize that you can't rely on natural resources forever. However, it is naive to think you can't use them to help you change the future. In terms of education, the article states that Alberta as a sovereign state would be in the top 5 in science education on the PISA international test.

Also, "now oil is way down in price and our economy is going with it" is completely fallacious as the only reason why our economy could fall is because our oil industry was propping it up. Here is a nice graphic to show the parity between the two [1].

At the end of the day, it takes time to convert your entire country to clean energy sources. Even in Canada where we have 2/3 already renewable, the amount of time it would take to make that 100% is going to take decades. Until then, my main argument for the oilsands is that I'd rather have people earning honest wages in a country where the companies are held liable to environmental destruction instead of the Middle East.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Heritage_Savings_Trust... [1] - http://news.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/diagram770.jpg

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