turningrite

I believe that 92 percent of China's population is ethnically Han. That's actually not reflective of much diversity. And it's also my understanding that minorities are expected to conform to majority customs, laws and expectations. Witness the treatment of its Tibetan and Muslim Uyghur minorities, as illustrated in the links below. My strong suspicion is that China has few lessons to teach the West about either diversity or multiculturalism. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/asia/china-tibet-language-education.html https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-globe-editorial-chinas-denials-about-mistreating-the-uyghurs-are/

As irritating as the U.S. government can often be, in general we should be thankful that the U.S. is our neighbour. You might want to ask those in countries bordering other superpowers what they think. You might want to talk to Tibetans or Ukrainians, for instance, before slagging the Americans. If you were to poll Canadians as to which of the superpowers they would choose as their neighbour, my guess is that the U.S. would overwhelming win the contest.

The U.S. will have a presidential election in less than two years. No political regime is permanent in that country and the Trump era will likely end fairly swiftly. Could China's "basic dictatorship," as Trudeau has fondly albeit bizarrely described it, change that quickly? Of course not. And where would most of those around the world who would like to leave their own countries move if afforded the opportunity? Well, mainly to the good ole U.S., that's where, according to a 2017 Gallup study - and by a good margin. In fact, China (#18) is precisely nowhere among the top ten preferred destinations, which other than wealthy Saudi Arabia (whose reputation has probably since slipped - wonder why?) are democratic Western countries. I have a soft spot for democracy. Apparently, so do a lot of other people. Peace and opportunity, for most, is represented by democracy. I hope this doesn't ruin your weekend. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/these-are-the-countries-migrants-want-to-move-to/

Are there foreign-language ethnoburbs in China? Just wondering? People do move for all sorts of reasons, of course, and obviously you didn't intend to remain in China permanently and no doubt had no access to government funded benefits nor to government-sponsored integration programs. In fact, as a good friend of mine who is Chinese tells me with a chuckle, the Chinese don't believe in diversity and certainly not in multiculturalism, at least not for China.

This kind of blatant, knee jerk anti-Americanism is tiresome and pointless. The U.S. may not be perfect, but it is our ally and trading partner and many of us have relatives and close friends in that country. The main problem with American foreign and trade policy is grounded in its practice of exceptionalism, an approach by the way that's replicated by the other two major military powers, China and Russia, neither of which is in any normal sense a healthy, functioning democracy. Americans are not generally, as you put it, "criminals." My mother was an American and I am a dual Canadian-American citizen and I consider your comment to be offensive. Try to be more constructive and thoughtful.

Please suspend those who repeatedly pursue 'ad hominem' attacks.

Actually, I think it a fair question in response to your bizarre comment. In any case, quid pro quo...

Pot, again meet kettle. After the deluge of scurrilous insinuations you cast against me yesterday, I think it only fair to offer assistance and support to others who are being similarly bullied. This is an open forum.

Oh my! Are you wearing a tinfoil hat?

Is 'north99' an objective and/or independent media source? I suspect it might offer the comfort of bias confirmation to those who already subscribe to its point of view, but a 2018 Macleans article (link below) suggests it may be a partisan pro-Lib outlet. Sometimes doing a little research can be very helpful. Nice try, but no cigar. https://www.macleans.ca/politics/the-two-ex-political-staffers-behind-the-ontario-elections-most-digital-savvy-outside-groups/

I'm speaking up for Argus, as I have every right to do.

Given the recent deterioration of our relationship with China, should we not simply withdraw our missions and officials from that country and suspend all other formal relations until the situation is normalized via negotiations? Reportedly, we're sending a parliamentary delegation to China although its leader apparently doesn't intend to raise concerns about Canadian detainees. (See link to news item below.) Why bother, then? The U.S. has issued a warning for its citizens traveling to China, noting in particular the risk of arbitrary detention. But Canada has apparently issued no such warning in this regard, which seems negligent, at the very least. Are we not just sticking our heads in the proverbial sand about the situation? https://globalnews.ca/news/4815410/canadian-parliamentary-delegation-china-detainees/

Pot, meet kettle.

You're clearly not familiar with the emerging sociology of 'ethnoburbs', are you? It's becoming increasingly clear that the emergence of this model of linguistic, cultural and religious segregation is impeding the integration of immigrants into Canadian society. A fairly recent federal government analysis, reported on in the media after it was obtained via an access to information request, confirmed as much. (Link below.) Shockingly, the analysis notes that close to a third of students requiring ESL training in one Toronto area school board were born in Canada, suggesting that such children are afforded little or no contact with or exposure to children outside of their own cultural communities. There's a lot of criticism of the Canadian host society on grounds that it's supposedly xenophobic and impedes the social and economic integration of newcomers. But I think much of this criticism is artificial as the Canadian form of multiculturalism itself increasingly promotes segregation and therefore impedes integration and acceptance. Perhaps English is difficult to learn, however, it is the most widely taught and learned second (and probably third and fourth) language on the planet. If people don't know it or don't want to learn it, or French if moving to Quebec, perhaps immigrating to Canada isn't a good plan for them. If I were to move to Germany only to figure out that I couldn't learn German, which according to friends who've studied the language is also difficult to learn, I think I'd leave even though English is fairly widely spoken in Germany. https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-canada-struggling-to-absorb-immigrants-internal-report-says

Oh, come on. What what happened to German in Toronto and indigenous languages in B.C.? That's really the salient issue. Those who spoke such minority languages integrated into an English-dominated milieu, and probably pretty quickly, as was entirely predictable. I grew up and went to school in an area featuring multiple ethnicities and languages other than English, including French (my paternal grandfather's language), Polish, German, Dutch and Russian. Whatever the languages spoken at home, everybody spoke English in public and at school. Outside of Quebec and a few isolated pockets elsewhere in Canada, where French and perhaps in some cases indigenous languages prevail, English is the overwhelmingly the dominant language of general discourse in Canada, as it is in the United States. It is also, clearly, the dominant language of popular culture and integration. And it's not like, say, Swedish, Finnish or many other languages that are spoken by relatively few people around the globe. In addition to being the most widely spoken European "mother" tongue, English is the most widely taught and learned second language on the planet. So, it's hardly an unreasonable expectation that immigrants who move here should know or learn it, just as Quebec quite fairly expects its immigrants to learn French. Acquiring and maintaining locally dominant language skills is, as I said earlier, a matter of both functional (i.e. economic) integration and respect. And, as English is the interlocutory language that promotes social cohesion among people from multiple linguistic and cultural backgrounds in most of Canada outside of Quebec, it's not a 'nice to have' but instead is a necessity. It discredits Canada's form of open-ended multiculturalism that we've lost sight of this.

But why move to another country if you don't want to integrate? My sister, who's been living in the U.S. for decades, asked me this when visiting Toronto a while back. While on a shopping excursion with a friend she noticed women wearing traditional ethnic garb and conversing among themselves in their native language(s). Living in a large U.S. city with a significant Asian immigrant population, she was surprised by this. "Our immigrants want to become like Americans" she noted, pointing out that this didn't appear to be the case in Canada. Who would move to another country and not learn or use the local language? I wouldn't move to Germany or Italy without learning German or Italian and even were I to consider moving to Quebec or France I would brush up on my underused and now very shoddy French language skills. Integration is a matter both of functionality and respect.

The media reports, including those citing police sources, are entirely anecdotal. I believe the police simply confirmed they were aware of the shooter and that he'd been detained in the past for observation due to his bizarre and/or erratic behavior. This in no way confirms a mental health diagnosis. Only a qualified mental health professional can render such a diagnosis and there's nothing in anything you provide to indicate that such a diagnosis has been confirmed. Further, you seem quite willing to stigmatize those living with and/or with a history of mental health issues, which would include up to about one-quarter of the population. You should be more judicious about ascribing cause to something about which you apparently know very little. And cut out the 'ad hominem' attacks, your use of which only undermines the credibility of your positions.

And yet, the topic keeps arising despite the passage of time. Perhaps because the Danforth shooting was among the top stories of the year and therefore garnered year-end media interest and coverage, some people starting paying attention again. An SIU report will eventually have to be released, of course, but can you think of another democratic country in which such a delay would be tolerated. I can't.

As you're continuing your strategy of hurling scurrilous insinuations and engaging in 'ad hominem' attacks rather than in rational debate, there appears to be little point in engaging you further. As for goofy Trudeau, it's an observation supported by objective evidence. An editorial published yesterday in the generally pro-Lib Toronto Star advised Trudeau to stop preening and also to treat his opponents' views with more respect. (You might learn something there.) The guy got where he is is on the basis of image far more than substance, one pair of fancy socks and self-absorbed photobomb at a time. When his allies in the media believe his behavior too often veers into narcissism and superficiality, are those who don't support him likely to think otherwise? My view about immigration, by the way, is that anybody who wants to come to Canada to work, contribute and integrate is welcome, within the contexts of the capacity of Canada's economy to absorb a reasonable number of immigrants and the requirement that the skills of newcomers match actual economic needs and available opportunities.

One of the troubling aspects of the ethnoburb phenomenon is that many of these communities are being established as new-build projects. Nobody is moving out but those moving in are often overwhelmingly of singular ethno-racial and/or religious backgrounds, which is the genesis of the "ethnoburb" designation. Some apologists for modern immigration and open-ended multicultural policies compare these ethnic suburbs to the so-called "receiving" neighbourhoods established by immigrant groups in previous generations. But there is actually a big difference. The receiving neighbourhoods were located in or near inner-city neighbourhoods, where new waves of immigrants in succession generally displaced older waves of immigrants. They were, in essence, transitory neighbourhoods that weren't intended to be permanent ethnic or racial enclaves. As newcomers adapted and integrated they moved into the broader community. The new ethnoburbs, however, appear intended to be more-or-less permanently segregated enclaves. The implications may be far more problematic than many want to be believe to be the case. Ghettos, whatever their socio-economic characteristics, tend to undermine social cohesion, integration and tolerance.

I'm saying that the reports simply amount to anecdotal evidence and in some cases are contradictory to other reported anecdotal evidence, therefore establishing nothing as fact. You haven't, by the way, pointed to a single report confirming the existence of an actual psychiatric diagnosis. Hmmm....

As I believe any sensible and objective voter should do, I vote differently in elections depending on party platforms and the quality of local candidates. I've been voting for more than four decades, never missing the opportunity to cast a ballot in every federal and provincial (Ontario) election during that period, and have at different times voted for candidates representing all three major political party brands. In the last federal election, convinced that Harper's time was up and utterly unimpressed by Trudeau (my instincts were good there), I voted for the local NDP candidate, whom I quite admire. She lost to a high-profile Lib candidate, which, while unfortunate, didn't surprise me. Even were I more impressed with Trudeau now, which I'm not, I couldn't support the incumbent Lib in my riding as I was utterly unimpressed by a conversation I had with him during the 2015 election campaign when I thought him to be completely out of touch with the struggles of ordinary citizens and taxpayers. As for my views on immigrants, perhaps you don't read my posts. If you did, you'd know that my own mother was a post-WWII immigrant who moved to Canada after she married my Canadian father. You shouldn't make assumptions about other peoples' views or motives, and in particular you should avoid libeling others with accusations or insinuations of racism or other equally dubious motivations. In any case, your approach leads me to wonder whether you're promoting anti-Caucasian and anti-Christian views? If you actually look at Canadian society objectively, you might figure out, as have many external observers, that it's among the most tolerant in the world. Criticism of Canada's current large-scale immigration program and refugee system is in many instances quite reasonably grounded in the economic costs and impacts associated with these policies. This is an inconvenient reality for those, like goofy Trudeau himself, who simply choose to emotionally, conveniently, lazily and very often inaccurately dismiss such critics as bigots.

And, how, exactly, do you "know" this? Such medical information is inherently private. There were reports, mainly from family members and a few others who knew the shooter, that he had mental health challenges, but these do not constitute evidence per se of any specific medical diagnosis. Further, some of the anecdotal reports publicized following the shooting were challenged by others who knew the shooter. Being detained for observation under the Mental Health Act does not constitute proof of a diagnosis and being released rather than hospitalized following an observation period suggests that a serious diagnosis likely didn't/doesn't apply. Depression is experienced by about 20 percent of the population, so it alone can't be held to constitute an explanation for such a heinous act. And serious psychosis (i.e. other than treatable depression) is a very specific medical condition that can only be diagnosed by a qualified psychiatrist. Can you point to any reporting verifying that such a diagnosis applied? I think you need to be more careful about this. Authorities have fostered speculation on the shooter's background and motivation by withholding information from the public, which is the salient issue at stake here. Personally, I doubt that you know anything more than anybody else on here about the shooter or his intent.

It's interesting that Machjo has no concerns about living in an ethnoburb. I suspect that most multi-generational Canadians wouldn't be overly concerned either. But I wonder whether his neighbours are so welcoming of him? I only ask this because, as I noted in a post earlier in this string, several years ago when my parents still resided in the Toronto area they spent a year living in a rented home in a newly constructed middle-class ethnoburb. At first they felt comfortable although my mother noted that nobody spoke to them. And then one night they had their car, which they'd left in the driveway, vandalized. When the police arrived to take the report, as was necessary for my parents to file an insurance claim, one officer told my parents that the police were seldom called to the neighbourhood and noted that there had been no similar incidents reported in the area despite the fact that many residences routinely had cars parked in driveways throughout the day and night. As the ethno-racial background of my parents obviously wasn't consistent with that of the neighbourhood, one officer speculated that it was possible the vandalism represented a (not very subtle) message being sent. My parents stayed in the house until the lease expired and then not much later moved out of the GTA, buying a home in another city in a mainly Caucasian but considerably more diverse and welcoming neighbourhood. I thought of this incident a few years later when a developer's plan to building housing in another GTA ethnoburb was challenged by local residents on grounds that the target demographic market for the proposed medium density housing development was not, apparently, their own ethno-racial community. There was at the time a lot of local media coverage of the situation.. I believe those who worry about the reaction of multi-generational (i.e. European) Canadians to demographic change should pay equal attention to the troubling desire within some newcomer communities to foster ethno-racial and cultural exclusivity.

I don't know much about the economics of bike share programs. But I do know that in Toronto, where I live and where serious snow and cold keeps people off their bikes for, perhaps, a few weeks each year, a lot of people who use them own them. In the mid-city apartment complex in which I live, the demand for secure bike storage overwhelms the supply, often forcing tenants to take their bikes up the old elevators, which inconveniences everybody else. Our underground parking lot is generally half-empty and would be much more so if the landlord didn't rent parking to nearby businesses as well as to people in the surrounding neighbourhood who don't otherwise have access to affordable and safe (i.e. security monitored) parking. As I'm sure the situation is replicated elsewhere in the city, I wonder about the actual size of the bike share market?