Alex's Journal

I can't decide what the most horrifying statistic out of this study is, but I'm going to start with these ones:

European and Canadian ethnoracial family members in Toronto have 10% of their population below the "low income cut-off" line (i.e. poverty line).

Compare to:
-20% for Aboriginal+other, South Asian, East Asian, Carribean and South & Central American family members
-30% for Arabic and West Asian families, and for solely-Aboriginal family members
-40% for African family members (and for African children, it's almost half).

And those are averages. With reasonable predictability, those who are immigrants from war-torn countries are MUCH more likely to be below the LICO. Over half the, as a small sampler, Somali, Afghan, and Ethiopian immigrants are under the LICO - some of these groups have nearly 3/4 the population in poverty.

There is just no possible way to think of that as the result of poor circumstances, especially in conjunction with (for example) the fact that South Asians, on average, are more likely to be educated in post-secondary and post-graduate institutions than Euro Canadians... but are making less money.

It will take nearly 20, sometimes up to 35 years before the immigrant population is making a comparable income to born-here Canadians, AND that's assuming that they follow the same trajectory as, say, Italian immigrants did in the 50s-70s (which, let's face it? Probably not going to be the case).

I haven't yet finished reading - I'm into the "what do we do with this information?" chapter - but god. I feel sick. Literally physically ill.

So you say the national media is biased against you, Mr. Harper?

...ARE YOU A FUCKING MORON?

(That's a rhetorical question. I know he is.)

Let's just take up that old US mantra of "oh, the liberal media is out to get me!" It's worked amazingly well for them, after all.

Reality has a well-known liberal bias, doesn't it, Mr. Harper?

He's trying to have his staff "select" which reporters get to ask him questions. Mmm, shades of Jeff Gannon. Good for the reporters for walking out.

Harper has said that he will deal with the local media instead...

"Basically, what he's saying is the regional media can be trusted to be compliant. They will find that insulting," said Chris Dornan, head of Carleton University's journalism school.

"Just as the national press corps will find insulting the suggestion that they're all paid-up Liberal hacks.

"He's going out of his way to make enemies - and that's not a good sign."

CBC version of the story (not different, just more... ours): Harper says he's finished with Ottawa press corps