Mayday! Mayday!. Lowell Psy.D. Green
Will we all be happier? Safer? Richer? More content?
Because if we won’t be better off, if we won’t all be happier, then what’s the sense of destroying the old if we’re not going to replace it with a new, improved model?
And could someone please inform us exactly what kind of damage will be done to “Old Canada” during this marvellous transformation? Will we be left with anything our ancestors created for us? Will we be allowed to retain anything of our heritage? Can we at least keep hockey or will soccer take over entirely? And, oh yes, this question: What is all this going to cost us at a time when they’re closing down operating rooms in our hospitals for lack of funds? How will we pay for this glorious metamorphosis?
Of course, we’ve got to understand when the self-anointed “progressives” talk about “New Canada” they’re really talking about you and me. Not the landscape! Not the flora and fauna! We, the people, have got to smarten up, they tell us. We’ve got to get “progressive” like they are and understand that we really don’t have a culture in Canada worth saving. At least, not in English Canada.
“Old Canada’s” culture, they insist, doesn’t cut the mustard anymore. We’ve got to import a few dozen other cultures, all of which, they insist, must have equal status. Laws are passed to ensure that any attempt to create one dominant culture is illegal. We cannot have a common national culture in English Canada.
No distinct Canadian culture for us, but a really nice heaping basketful of other cultures, including some that most of us aren’t too crazy about.
Except for Quebec, of course. Quebec has a real culture, we’ve been told since Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s time. The only culture in the country worth protecting. And heaven only knows we’ve invested billions of dollars and tons of sweat and worry doing just that—protecting Quebec’s culture. And will continue so doing!
Please understand, to the casual observer “New Canada” will look pretty much the same as “Old Canada.” The Rockies will still be there. So, too, the Prairies, the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence. Oh, I suppose some of the store signs in places like Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal will look a little different. They may change a few street names, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be moving the Parliament Buildings or the CN Tower. The Toronto Maple Leafs will still be—well, the Leafs—so at least that part of our culture won’t change. (Let’s hope!)
The Evolution
Thanks to Statistics Canada, we have a pretty good idea how “New Canada” is going to evolve.
First of all, we are told, over the next 20 years the foreign-born population of “New Canada” will grow four times faster than those who are born in this country.
When you examine the numbers I bring to light in this book, you will see that we don’t have to wait 20 years for this to occur. The foreign-born population of Canada is growing at least four times faster than those born here right now; indeed I suspect the rate is probably closer to five times faster. No speculation is involved in this fact; it comes directly from Statistics Canada, which tells us that by 2031 at least one in four people in the country will have been born elsewhere, and only about half of all working-age people will belong to families that have lived in Canada for at least three generations.
We know a few other things about “New Canada” as well, once again courtesy of Statistics Canada. For example, by 2031 one-third of all people living here will be so-called visible minorities—minorities, that is, until very quickly those with Western values become the minority “race,” something that will surely occur within the lifetime of many of you reading this.
Something else we know is that in “New Canada” more than 70 per cent of all immigrants flooding into the country will make a beeline for one of three cities: Toronto, Vancouver and, to a lesser extent, Montreal.
By that magic year 2031, fully 63 per cent of Toronto’s population will be visible minorities—in Vancouver the ratio will be 59 per cent, in Montreal 31 per cent. Ottawa’s visible minorities population will increase from the present 19 per cent to 36 per cent.
Visible minorities in Canada, 2031
Projected percentage of non-Caucasian population in Census metropolitan areas.
Source: Statistics Canada
It is important to realize that we are doing something in Canada no other nation on earth even contemplates. This country today is undergoing a societal and demographic evolution that is much more rapid and profound than is taking place in any other nation on earth. For example, while only ten per cent of Americans today are foreign born, here in Canada the foreign-born figure is about 20 per cent. While some US cities have large foreign-born populations, none of them approach what is occurring in Toronto and Vancouver. Americans often joke that Miami’s first language is Spanish, but in fact only about 36 per cent of its population was born outside the United States, compared to nearly 46 per cent of Toronto’s population and almost 40 per cent in Vancouver in 2006.
The significance of this is even greater since Toronto and Vancouver are by far the largest cities in English Canada and pretty well determine which political party governs the country.
So “New Canada” will in fact be two Canadas. The really, really “New Canada” in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa and the pretty much status-quo-Canada in the rest of the country, at least for the time being. On second thought, when you factor Quebec into the equation, “New Canada” will actually be three Canadas.
This, we are assured by the great “progressive” thinkers of the land, is a good thing. Not a problem! There is no treacherous reef waiting just off our bow to tear us apart, they promise.
Any expressions of concern that mass immigration and multiculturalism are threatening our core values or diluting our national character are dismissed as the drooling rants of a few old white guys whose diapers are beginning to chafe! Furthermore, they claim anyone suggesting that maybe “Old Canada” is a pretty decent place that doesn’t deserve to be deep-sixed is probably just a racist.
Who’s The Racist?
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says a “policy of political correctness” has led to missed signals in recent terrorism investigations.
(Giuliani responding to questions concerning the failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, ABC News, “This Week” on May 9, 2010.)
No doubt some of the objections and concerns being expressed about “New Canada” are coming from old white guys. Quite likely some of it comes from bona fide racists as well.
But wait just a minute here.
Those who revel at the prospect of a Toronto with a 63 per cent visible minority population very clearly believe that the fewer white faces around the better.
By 2031, only 37 per cent of Toronto’s population will be Caucasian. “Hurray!” shout the promoters of “New Canada.”
By 2031, only 39 per cent of Vancouver’s population will be white. “We’re dancing in the streets, that’s wonderful,” cry the politically correct multiculturalists.
Translation: the fewer “whiteys” the better!
Tung Chan, CEO of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., an organization helping immigrants come to Canada, says: “As we look towards the Pacific Century…Vancouver is the first Asian city outside of Asia.” (The Globe and Mail, March 10, 2010). This is supposed to be a wonderful accomplishment? But wait just a minute. Why are we applauding the conversion of a Canadian