The Syrian migrant situation has been addressed by the press as an issue for the 2015 federal Election. I believe that the Conservative government has acted prudently by proceeding with caution.
The vast majority of the people fleeing Syria in the face of the civil war are migrants and are not refugees. A migrant, particularly an economic migrant is defined by Wikipedia as “someone who has traveled from one region to another region for the purposes of seeking employment and an improvement in quality of life and access to resources. An economic migrant is distinct from someone who is a refugee fleeing persecution.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration
Though the crisis of the Syrian migrants cannot be ignored, Canada must refrain from caving in to pressure to accept thousands of the Syrian migrants without a carefully considered limitation on the number of persons and complete security processing. The Canadian economy is not generating enough tax dollars to incur the additional expense. The following are relevant issues to be considered and are only a sample of the relevant considerations.
1. Canadians wait three times longer for medical care than any other country with public medicine according to a June 13, 2014 article by the CBC. 1.2663013 http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/medical-wait-times-up-to-3-times-longer-in-canada-1.2663013
2. Canada has a 7 per cent unemployment rate not including those who are exempt from the statistics such as persons who care for their own children at home who would otherwise be working.
3. The Huffington Post Canada September 15, 2015 states one in ten Canadians is living below the poverty line http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/15/poor-canada-poverty-statistics-canada_n_877311.html
4. On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, The Star.com published an article about the fate of the Canadian economy if oil prices plunge. The 2014 Alberta Budget was based upon oil selling at $100.00 CDN per barrel. That estimate had to be re-calibrated to $75.00 at the time of the article. The article states: “Taxes earned from oil production are a large contributor to Ottawa’s bank account. Oil money pays for health care, new schools, roads and a host of government services and transfer payments.” In the event that oil should drop to or below $60.00 per barrel then “If prices continue to drop, oil sands development will be significantly slowed, says Matthew Mendelsohn, director of the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. “What happens to all of this if oil is $60? I think at $60 a barrel expectations around oil sands growth are going to be significantly moderated,” he says.” As of September 14, 2015, the price per barrel of oil is $44.25 USD. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/12/10/oil_price_plunge_would_be_felt_throughout_canadian_economy.html
5. In 2013, Statistics Canada reports a drop in persons employed in the fishing industry over the previous year http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/stats/cfs-spc/tab/cfs-spc-tab2-eng.htm
6. A 2006 report by statistics Canada states that the lumber industry represents 0.07% of the Canadian economy. Canada has 10% of the world’s forest coverage.http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2007055-eng.htm Canada ranks as the No. 5 producer in the world. http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-with-most-timber-producing-countries.html
7. The British Columbia mining industry had pre-tax net earnings for 2014 of $288 million,. In 2013, the pre-tax earnings were $1.387 billion. http://www.mining.bc.ca/mining-facts
8. The number of people employed in manufacturing dropped between 2004 and 2012 by an average of 2.2% (18,230 jobs) per year. There was a slight increase in 2011 over the year 2010. Administrative jobs dropped an average of 1% (4,400 jobs) per year over the same period. Statistics Canada shows increases in overall employment from 2010 until 2014, while the prospective unemployment rate is expected to grow as 2015 winds down. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/canada/unemployment-rate.
9. There is precedent for Canada’s fears that operatives of terror organizations hide in throngs of fleeing people. There were the Boko Harem suicide bombers in Nigeria http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3149643/Dozens-killed-female-suicide-bombers-blow-middle-village-owd-Boko-Haram-jihadis-storm-Nigerian-village.html and the female suicide bomber in Sri Lanka. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/02/09/uk-srilanka-war-sb-idUKTRE5186CM20090209. An effective plan for infiltration by terrorist elements when there is little hope of beating the immigration safeguards is to have the terrorist element hide within the flood of persons seeking a safer place from a war-torn environment. Naive but well-meaning public pressure may result in Canada making quick and erroneous decision about the character of the displaced people who it admits on humanitarian grounds. It is bound to result in leakage of terrorist-affiliated persons. Canada should not bear that risk.
10. Canada is an active participant in the Syrian conflict. Canada is likely a target of the factions that it opposes and therefore infiltration has to be considered a clear threat.
Summary
Canada will admit persons displaced by the war in Syria. Proper security processing must take place. Once a person enters Canada, it is too easy for them to evade the authorities if they turn out to be a threat.
We cannot ignore the status of the economy in Canada. The indicators are that our economy is not as robust as we had expected and is not gaining positive momentum. The sources of tax revenue to fund our three levels of government to provide services are shrinking.
Once the displaced persons arrive in Canada, they have to be supported. We cannot stress the existing support systems by taking in too many persons on humanitarian grounds. If individual groups wish to take on the maintenance of a displaced person or group and are prepared to support them financially, then let them commit to it before the migrants are admitted to Canada.
We have an obligation to look after the needs of our population as a priority. We have to limit our commitment to what we can afford without further depriving Canadians of the services that they require.

The NDP is campaigning on a proposal to create affordable daycare by limiting the parents’ cost to a fixed sum. The proposed amount is $15 per day, but that is just an estimate. The balance of the cost would be apportioned 60% Federal Government/40% Provincial Government. The NDP indicates that there would be a marginal cost to Canadians.
The purpose of the plan is to bring parent care givers back into the workforce.
I reviewed two articles on the subject.
A McLeans article by John Geddes about the NDP leader’s presentation; “Should the NDP win next fall’s election, it promises to partly fund 370,000 child care spaces across Canada by 2018-19 at a cost of nearly $1.9 billion a year.” http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/get-em-while-theyre-young
A Globe and Mail article by Josh Wingrove http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mulcair-pitches-plan-for-15-a-day-child-care/article21086778/ indicates that the price per day is variable among the provinces, that for profit daycares will be acceptable and the purpose of the plan is to keep mothers in the workforce longer.
Both articles were a snapshot. Neither contained a detailed analysis of the program or commented on its feasibility or benefit to Canada as a whole. The immediate impact of the day care pledge was illustrated by an interviewer on Global Television who was told by the parent being interviewed that she was voting NDP based solely on this campaign promise.
I query the understatement of the complex components of the plan.
According to the British Columbia Child Care Cost Information website, the highest cost per month for daycare is an infant enrolled full time at a cost of $904.00 per month. The national average is $876.00 for the same daycare opportunity. In a month where there are 22 working days, the Province of BC would pay $229.60 and the federal Government would pay $344.40 http://www.godaycare.com/child-care-cost/british%20columbia

The only figures reported are that by 2018, the total number of funded daycare sports would be $370,000.00 at a cost to what I assume to be the federal Government of $1.9 billion.
My calculations are as follows:
370K DAY CARE SPOTS
AT NATIONAL AVERAGE COST $3,885,000,000.00
Cost per unit at $15 per day for user assuming 22 days per month
Month Year X 370,000 UNITS
Parent 180.00 2160.00 $ 799,200,000.00
Federal 417.00 5,004.00 $1,851,480,000.00
Provincial 278.00 3,336.00 $1,234,320,000.00
Total 875.00 10,500.00 $3,885,000,000.00

The average cost per province exceeds $100,000,000.00.
It is extremely difficult for us to gage the reality of the NDP proposal. Since we cannot see the methodology for the calculation of the base figures, we cannot judge the impact on the Canadian tax payer. My guess is that the NDP is basing the calculations on a historical cos. If I am correct, then the figures are very much understated and neglect the changes that will affect cost in the longer term. The expense to Canadian tax payers will be substantially greater in the future.
I will apply the Vancouver perspective:
1. Metro Vancouver has instituted an emphasis on public transit, bicycles and foot power to travel to and from work. In my case, public transit doubled my travel time to double. The day care would have to be open longer so I could get to the day care in time, adding cost to the daycare operation;
2. Metro Vancouver is looking at a minimum wage of $15.00 per hour, an increase of approximately $3.00 per hour over the current minimum wage. That will increase labor costs by as much as 30 per cent.
3. There is no cost of administration associated with the program to deal with registration, payment, audit of attendance, and liaison with Provincial and Federal governments. Some of the omitted considerations include regulations to control prices being charged by the day care to avoid gouging and the audit of the accuracy of the day care records.
4. The regime is not linked to working parents or income. In essence a person could pay $15 per day care fee and go golfing, fishing, play tennis or lunch with friends.
5. Provincial Guidelines for the health and safety of child day cares become stricter from time to time costing the day care owner and effectively their customers more money to pay for day care.
6. The unemployment rate in Canada is currently 7% according to Statistics Canada. However, this figure is based upon certain criteria outlined in the definition of “Labor Force” as defined by Statistics Canada. The definition of those employed includes individuals who are not working” were it not for illness, disability, family responsibilities, bad weather, labor disputes or vacations http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/labour-force/ .
7. Should more parents enter the workforce because day care becomes affordable, the unemployment figures would not change because the parents would already be included as working. However, any one working who was displaced by the parents re-entering the workforce who would be considered unemployed and looking for work would increase the unemployment rate in Canada according to the Statistics Canada definition. The effect of this program would be to make its effect employment neutral while at the same time increasing the unemployment rate in Canada.
8. In August, 2015, there was an average of 5.7 unemployed persons for each available job. If we increase the number of available people for jobs and the opportunity for employment does not increase, the persons available per job will exceed 6%.
9. The NDP stated in January 2015 that it stimulate job creation by a mixture of business tax credits. This conflicts with their statement that they will increase corporate taxes. Since that time, the Canadian economy has not performed as well as expected, leaving the federal and provincial finances in poorer shape to fund the NDP plan.
There is merit in adjusting the Child Tax day care credit to be fairer for the parents. It retains the competitiveness of the availability of the day care spots and pricing while it avoids having the taxpayer being responsible for an uncontrollable cost that will only increase in the future. In the end, job creation in the private sector must be the ultimate goal of government.

The adjournment of the Mike Duffy trial is a fortuitous happening for Canadians who need to consider the important issues in the upcoming federal election.

The Canadian news services were dwelling on the daily progress of the Mike Duffy trial for every gram of scandal. Among my family and my friends and my acquaintances that I have canvassed, the Duffy prosecution and the disclosure of evidence of links to the Prime Minister’s office was not a significant factor in the hierarchy of election issues.

The Canadian press has been doing the Canadian public a disservice by distracting them from the many more significant election issues, such as health care, the economy, the environment, employment, and the concerns that are more regional in nature. If the Court finds that Mike Duffy broke the law, then he will be convicted. If members of the Conservative party broke the law, then perhaps they will be changed and convicted. The $90,000.00 in question, though no small sum of money, pales in comparison to the fact that in Vancouver, our families cannot afford housing, that the cost of food rises continuously and the funding for schools, health care and infrastructure are inadequate.

The Canadian press has to be more diligent in holding the candidates accountable for their statements. It requires an analysis of what a party, a party leader or a candidate says and the reasonableness of the policy. We are no longer satisfied with a broad promise of a “chicken in every pot “ Leave a comment