It seems the Americans who are showing the most interest in immigrating to Canada are gays and lesbians, as reported in today’s Globe and Mail.
It isn’t surprising. Craig Lucas, an U.S. screenwriter, makes the following justification for this surge of interest:
“Our rights are slowly being eroded. It happened in Nazi Germany, the incredible brain drain of artists, scientists, and writers who fled to the U.S. Now it’s happening here [in the United States]. The government wants gays to live outside the protection of the law.”
As someone else points out, later in the article, it’s both a brain drain and a wealth drain. Gays represent the richest, most educated demographic in North America, and the thought of such a sophisticated population adding to the Canadian milleu just brings us one step closer to fulfilling Trudeau’s great dream of the just society.
Frankly, this is wonderful news — we should be celebrating. We should have giant Welcome to Canada banners for these quality people.
Except in Alberta, of course. That loud-mouthed bigot Ralph Klein stated recently that “maybe they want it in other provinces [gay marriage], but not in this province.”
Well, Ralphie boy, is that because you only ask your red-neck, fundamentalist supporters? Or is it your natural prejudices speaking, and being projected onto a province that is much more liberal and compassionate that you care to admit. Still, this is all one can expect from a man who threatened to use the Notwithstanding Clause to stop compensation to thousands of Albertans who were forcibly sterilized in the past 50 years.
It amazes me, this stubborn refusal to evolve into a 21st century human being. I don’t know why Klein and his conservative bretheren prefer the old school delights of social neanderthal living, but there must be something that keeps them feeding from that abysmal trough. I hope they choke on the slop.
