Can the city handle unfettered immigration without a coordinated federal/provincial/municpal policy, which has never been put in place, let alone discussed until now??
This is a no-brainer and Ford is the only candidate who's had the guts to publicly discuss it.
Ford is not against immigration, like his rivals are pretending he is.
But with three quarters of all immigrants going to Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal and most of those coming to Toronto, there needs to be a coordinated policy between federal, municipal and provincial governments about where refugees and immigrants settle. Municipal infrastructure simply can't handle this influx and how to deal with it needs to be addressed and discussed.
Smitherman, Rossi and Pantalone are going to be exploitative and cynical and frankly COWARDLY in their response to this, but none of that trio actually have any workable ideas about it.
Ford and I discussed this very matter in this interview, but at that time he felt it wasn't appropriate to introduce it to the mayoral campaign. But with the recent arrival of a boatload of illegal Tamil immigrants, and the possibility of more to come, the issue is one that requires public debate.
Ford is raising an important issue that his gutless rivals are avoiding. This city needs a mayor with integrity and one who isn't afraid to tell the truth.
Let's put it this way, Smitherman, Pantalone, Thompson and Rossi all think Toronto isn't crowded enough. Ford thinks it is.
Ford has my vote.
UPDATE: Rocco Rossi, trailing in the polls in a distant 5th place and desperate, is hoping to "rally" objection to Ford's remark. Good luck, Rocco.
EYE ON A CRAZY PLANET
I suggest we send the next Faux Refugee Ship that approaches our shores to a watery grave by bombing it with the Annex and or The Toronto Star Building (including their occupants of course).
ReplyDeleteShittyPulse24 recently showed video footage of Rossi ambushing Ford over this. I don't know if Rossi helpfully provided the footage or if ShittyTV conveniently had a video crew there.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely recall from the Chretien years, Quebec getting (IIRC) 45% of the federal money meant for immigrant issues while only getting 15% of immigrants. Are any of the lib-Lib-Left candidates going to bitch about that?
/andycanuck
Not the Annex! Too many good restaurants!
ReplyDeleteRocco alerted the media about the ambush in advance, I'd wager. It's not like Rocco would pull a stunt like that unless he knew at least one camera was around.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for Rossi, one camera is about all the attention he can command these days and even for that, he needs to get Ford in the shot.