kakowi

yeah it should be 'immigrants' instead of 'migrants' i forgot i was in a canadian forum ps: i am from outside canada

There are two basic categories of migrants. First, those who just want to get out of their own country. In such cases, they do not really have a loyalty to Canada per se. Second, they searched for that beautiful land and settled on Canada as a place in which they will build their new home. They pledge their loyalty to this new land, find ways to contribute and enhance the economy of that land, contribute to social causes and through their positive actions, make their corner of Canada a little bit better by their presence. For those belonging to the second category, a citizenship test is welcome. It helps them to know about the land, the history and the peoples. The culture. And above all, what it means to be a citizen of Canada. My vote is 'yes' for the citizenship test.

But a dictionary definition is an indication and cannot be used to define all politicians with the same brush. True, most politicians are self-serving, at least that is my opinion. But there are some politicians whose cause is greater than their selves. Maybe we can call them liars in the service of their cause, but i feel that is diminishing what they are. They can be more comfortable liars in service of the status quo. I am referring to politicians like Gandhi, Mandela, Aung San Suu Ki.

I may not understand your point fully. Is it "some politicians run their policies based on opinion polls in order to secure votes for subsequent elections?" i.e. polls ---> decisions But surely there are others who used results as a basis for re-election and these results point to competence in governance (which is acknowledged by the majority of voters as 'competence')....? i.e. decisions ---> favourable polls And there is no neccessity for honesty in either position. Just a desire to be effective in re-elections.

I lived in a one party state that had been so for close to 5 decades. My opinion is that the US system is a good one, one which allows for much greater transparency and at the same time allows for a much greater freedom to speak without reading your lines through and through for the past 10 minutes before clicking the REPLY button.

My opinion is that if you can find an honest politician he is likely to be an unsuccessful one. This is because a politician relies on votes to get into office. And if you ever say a contentious statement, you would have known that half of the people you met call you 'brother' or 'sister' and the other half thinks they are far more brilliant than you. I will settle for one who is concern about income inequality, the elimination of poverty and the growth of the nation.