dbd33

As a rather rednecked poster I assume you have a threshold of observed liberalism much lower than the rest of us; having a Chinese restaurant does not make a place cosmopolitan. And, yes, I've been to Calgary. I'd put it on par socially with somewhere like Atlanta, it's not hicksville in the way that, say, Jackson Mississippi, is hicksville but it's hardly as open and accepting as, say, Glasgow Scotland. I imagine the rest of Alberta is as socially conservative as Rich suggests, though it's only Fort McMurray and Weebo Ludvig that I see on the news.

I love the idea of Canadians being accepting, it's not true where I work, at least they're not accepting of people of a different colour or orientation. They may be accepting of people from another province, so long as it's not Quebec or Newfoundland, or foreigners so long as they're white, speak English and drive their truck in a gender appropriate fashion.

Anyway, back on topic, the police forces peripheral to Toronto, Peel for example, have less stringent residency requirements and seem keen to diversify; maybe they're a better bet than the Toronto force. One could commute out from the city.

dbd33

Commendably succinct!

jancal

It seems to me that the comments you constantly make about the people of Kelowna are the usual rantings of a very narrow minded individual. Many so free loving, free living, free loving, etc people are so full of crap that they get to be so anti anyone who isn't gay/ethnic/disabled and just plain "ordinary" they lose all actual common sense and every judgement is clouded to the negative. Calgary is very liberal - deal with it. And sorry it does not fit in with your usual rants.

Rich_007

Just go away you little person. You're making yourself look very foolish.

R.

jancal

Must have touched a nerve.

Rich_007

You'd like to think. You're just a stalker.

R.

Rich_007

dbd you have a quite remarkable way of describing life here. That is as much as things are "cosmopolitan", hereabouts.

R.

dbd33

I seem now to live in a twilight zone so far as liberalism is concerned. Toronto, of course, has some of everything but I'd hesitate to call it liberal, it's more a series of ghettos and one must be careful about mixing one's ghetto dwellers; a party that included some gay and aboriginal friends went as badly as one including white trash Americans and people from India.

Out here though, at the end of the suburbs, inbreeding is the rule. People with a history in the county all look the same. It's no good asking anyone's maiden name because it'll be the same as her married name. They're scared of anyone who seems different; especially if they seem different by failure to wear plaid and not obviously keeping livestock. However they're completely comfortable with different orientations, I'd guess the Halloween party at the gay resort drew a crowd of which a third was straight. There seems to be a disproportionately large gay population here (not counting the two recent immigrants to the county) and I wonder if that's really by chance. I think there may be room for a thesis on sexual orientation in communities where all possible partners are cousins or better.


No help to the OP of course, unless by fluke she has the Dufferin County Ears.

Purley

All I can add to this subject is the fact that when my son's ex partner was trying to get her soon to be husband into Canada from Chile, I phoned the immigration department and was told that each case of sponsorship is looked at on its own merits and just because a couple was married, did not automatically mean that the Canadian half of the couple could sponsor the other. She said that if they do not believe that the marriage was done for reasons other than to get into Canada - then they will turn it down. It doesn't matter if they have many children - that does not count for much. It all depends if they believe you are a genuine couple - however, I have no idea how they tell - it sounded to me that they went on their gut feeling.

My sister's son tried to get a Mexican girl into Canada and she thinks that if you own joint property and have joint bank accounts - that this counts for something.

dbd33

I imported an American on the basis of having established a common-law relationship with her while she was a tourist in Canada. It's all in the wording, if the relationship seems genuine it need not seem conventional. A gay common-law relationship established by living together in the UK would be a routine case needing only standard stuff; joint bills, joint bank statements, letters from friends who have impressive titles confirming you to be known as a couple "they jointly own a dog" (you must know a judge or a QC or a partner in a firm with a long name, somethinglike that), tickets for holidays together, vacation pictures, invitations to events in both names - reams of routine stuff gathered over as long a period as possible.

Souvenir

Funny you should mention Peel. When I still worked at the CHC (OK we're going back a bit now), I met a very senior Peel cop. He was from Croydon.

I don't think he was gay, although he did have a moustache.

Jingsamichty

On a day-to-day basis, I would doubt very much if a serving police officer - gay or straight - would notice much difference between life in London and life in Calgary - your average plod probably wouldn't embrace the wacked-out chill-room that is backwoods BC quite as enthusiastically as you, Rich.

And dbd33, I reckon that Calgary is way more 'open and accepting' than Glasgow, Scotland. Imagine standing at George Square at chucking-out time on a Friday night and shouting "I'm a gay English copper!" - then you would see exactly how 'open and accepting' the local neds are...!

Truth is... not everyone in Alberta is an apoplectic redneck fascist, just like not everyone in BC is a free-lovin' backwoods hippychick.

rwin

How ironic.

Rich_007

Along comes another little man.

R.

rwin

Calgary isn't nearly as bad as you think. Not sure what you mean by your comment.