Hard to believe as it may be, it actually becomes tiresome to be forever questioning the motives of the prime minister, suspicious that behind his words there is a hidden agenda. Occasionally, it would be pleasant to shut down the computer at the end of the week and just go home, confident that good government was alive and well in Ottawa, and his words meant to him what other people mean when they use them.Yet somehow there’s always that ‘who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’ feeling after the prime minister declares his talking-points-du-jour.Take, for example, the article from my friend and colleague Jen Hodgson, in which Mr. Trudeau launches a Francophone Minorities Communities Student Pilot program to encourage even more French-speaking immigrants to come to Canada. The idea is supposedly to promote French in Canada. Fair enough. The country is officially bilingual, and lots of people go to extra efforts to put their children in French-immersion schools for that very purpose. Speaking French is a social grace and possibly a career advantage.Vive la France.However, nobody from France is coming.These prospective immigrants will apparently come from former French colonies. And, when they get here, they are to be peppered into small cities all over Canada everywhere — except Quebec itself. Places like Senegal and Guinea then, Cote d’Ivoire or Upper Volta, chosen-all we must suppose for their depth of vocabulary and the majestic precision with which they articulate their vowels, rather than that un-Canadienne Parisienne argot that just embarrasses them in Quebec.We must believe that or otherwise be reduced to seeking more sordid explanations, such as bolstering Liberal fortunes in vulnerable ridings by people who may feel obliged to vote for the people who got them in la porte? But all the same, it seems to this old anglophone that you might get a more authentic rendition from French France? So what is it about the actual French that causes the Government of Canada to discriminate against them? Do they not adequately diversify Canada’s ethnic mosaic?To pose the question is to imply the answer...Then there is the matter of timing. We have now come to understand that immigration is one of the driving causes of the increased housing costs that so bedevils the younger generation. Common sense suggests therefore that as between regular immigration and young people here on student visas the housing crunch has become horribly difficult, and rents impossibly high, even if this is a good idea, maybe now’s not the time?No, probably not. But this is a government that does things in silos. So if one office wants more immigrants from Africa and another department is trying to keep a lid on rents — hopefully there is such a department — any coincidence of purpose is just that, a coincidence.That, by the way, is how we can be looking at making everybody drive an electric car while simultaneously making it as difficult as possible to build the baseload power generation to run them. Different departments, different objectives. Well, same with immigration, it seems.But, I digress. The other thing that should make anybody suspicious is that most of the rules regarding financial support have been waived, as Ms. Hodgson’s article spells out.She writes, “Incoming French-speaking international students will be exempt — along with their spouses or common-law partners and families (it is not specified whether this includes extended families, as seen in the Gaza visas) — from demonstrating a planned departure date. Rather, their stay in Canada is welcome to be permanent, said Immigration Marc Miller. Plus, they don’t need to have as much money in the bank as with other visas. In fact, Ottawa has set the “financial threshold to reflect 75% of the low-income cut-off associated with the municipalities where the Designated Learning Institutions (DLI) — colleges and universities — have their main campuses.”And so these good francophones from anywhere but France, will be dropped off in places like Nanaimo, Cornwall and Red River and anywhere but Quebec, given advantages a lot of Canadians would want, just as we’ve effectively doubled regular immigration.And this is why when you listen to the prime minister, you wonder if he’s telling you everything. And maybe he wasn’t. However Edmonton Centre MP and Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault did drop a clue when he said the program was about “increasing diversity in Canada.”That sounds more like it. And of course, you wouldn't be half as diverse if you took your francophones from France, would you?Meanwhile, how about the Trudeau Liberals doing a bit more to protect and spread the country's other official language in Quebec?Just saying. .This is what the Western Standard is up againstThe Trudeau government is funding lies and propaganda by directly subsidizing the mainstream media. They do this to entrench the powerful Eastern, woke and corrupt interests that dominate the political, social and economic institutions in Canada. Federal authorities are constantly trying to censor us and stop us from publishing the stories that they don’t want you to read. Ottawa may weaponize our taxes and police against us, but we’ve got a powerful ally on our side.You. Free men, and free women. We need you to stand with us and become a member of the Western Standard. Here’s what you will get for your membership:Unlimited access to all articles from the Western Standard, Alberta Report, West Coast Standard, and Saskatchewan Standard, with no paywall. Our daily newsletter delivered to your inbox. .Access to exclusive Member-only WS events.Keep the West’s leading independent media voice strong and free.If you can, please support us with a monthly or annual membership. It takes just a moment to set up, and you will be making a big impact on keeping one the last independent media outlets in Canada free from Ottawa’s corrupting influence.
Hard to believe as it may be, it actually becomes tiresome to be forever questioning the motives of the prime minister, suspicious that behind his words there is a hidden agenda. Occasionally, it would be pleasant to shut down the computer at the end of the week and just go home, confident that good government was alive and well in Ottawa, and his words meant to him what other people mean when they use them.Yet somehow there’s always that ‘who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’ feeling after the prime minister declares his talking-points-du-jour.Take, for example, the article from my friend and colleague Jen Hodgson, in which Mr. Trudeau launches a Francophone Minorities Communities Student Pilot program to encourage even more French-speaking immigrants to come to Canada. The idea is supposedly to promote French in Canada. Fair enough. The country is officially bilingual, and lots of people go to extra efforts to put their children in French-immersion schools for that very purpose. Speaking French is a social grace and possibly a career advantage.Vive la France.However, nobody from France is coming.These prospective immigrants will apparently come from former French colonies. And, when they get here, they are to be peppered into small cities all over Canada everywhere — except Quebec itself. Places like Senegal and Guinea then, Cote d’Ivoire or Upper Volta, chosen-all we must suppose for their depth of vocabulary and the majestic precision with which they articulate their vowels, rather than that un-Canadienne Parisienne argot that just embarrasses them in Quebec.We must believe that or otherwise be reduced to seeking more sordid explanations, such as bolstering Liberal fortunes in vulnerable ridings by people who may feel obliged to vote for the people who got them in la porte? But all the same, it seems to this old anglophone that you might get a more authentic rendition from French France? So what is it about the actual French that causes the Government of Canada to discriminate against them? Do they not adequately diversify Canada’s ethnic mosaic?To pose the question is to imply the answer...Then there is the matter of timing. We have now come to understand that immigration is one of the driving causes of the increased housing costs that so bedevils the younger generation. Common sense suggests therefore that as between regular immigration and young people here on student visas the housing crunch has become horribly difficult, and rents impossibly high, even if this is a good idea, maybe now’s not the time?No, probably not. But this is a government that does things in silos. So if one office wants more immigrants from Africa and another department is trying to keep a lid on rents — hopefully there is such a department — any coincidence of purpose is just that, a coincidence.That, by the way, is how we can be looking at making everybody drive an electric car while simultaneously making it as difficult as possible to build the baseload power generation to run them. Different departments, different objectives. Well, same with immigration, it seems.But, I digress. The other thing that should make anybody suspicious is that most of the rules regarding financial support have been waived, as Ms. Hodgson’s article spells out.She writes, “Incoming French-speaking international students will be exempt — along with their spouses or common-law partners and families (it is not specified whether this includes extended families, as seen in the Gaza visas) — from demonstrating a planned departure date. Rather, their stay in Canada is welcome to be permanent, said Immigration Marc Miller. Plus, they don’t need to have as much money in the bank as with other visas. In fact, Ottawa has set the “financial threshold to reflect 75% of the low-income cut-off associated with the municipalities where the Designated Learning Institutions (DLI) — colleges and universities — have their main campuses.”And so these good francophones from anywhere but France, will be dropped off in places like Nanaimo, Cornwall and Red River and anywhere but Quebec, given advantages a lot of Canadians would want, just as we’ve effectively doubled regular immigration.And this is why when you listen to the prime minister, you wonder if he’s telling you everything. And maybe he wasn’t. However Edmonton Centre MP and Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault did drop a clue when he said the program was about “increasing diversity in Canada.”That sounds more like it. And of course, you wouldn't be half as diverse if you took your francophones from France, would you?Meanwhile, how about the Trudeau Liberals doing a bit more to protect and spread the country's other official language in Quebec?Just saying. .This is what the Western Standard is up againstThe Trudeau government is funding lies and propaganda by directly subsidizing the mainstream media. They do this to entrench the powerful Eastern, woke and corrupt interests that dominate the political, social and economic institutions in Canada. Federal authorities are constantly trying to censor us and stop us from publishing the stories that they don’t want you to read. Ottawa may weaponize our taxes and police against us, but we’ve got a powerful ally on our side.You. Free men, and free women. We need you to stand with us and become a member of the Western Standard. Here’s what you will get for your membership:Unlimited access to all articles from the Western Standard, Alberta Report, West Coast Standard, and Saskatchewan Standard, with no paywall. Our daily newsletter delivered to your inbox. .Access to exclusive Member-only WS events.Keep the West’s leading independent media voice strong and free.If you can, please support us with a monthly or annual membership. It takes just a moment to set up, and you will be making a big impact on keeping one the last independent media outlets in Canada free from Ottawa’s corrupting influence.
