SANDRAPAUL

As PRs or newly formed citizens how passionate do you get involved with National and Local politics? Does it wind you up perhaps in the same fashion that it may have done in your home country. Do PRs see it differently to new citizens?

Or is it looked at from afar?

iaink

When i first landed I couldnt have cared less. When I realised this was a permanent move I took a slight interest, but as I couldnt vote or change anything it was not that important. Now as a citizen I vote and take a bit of an interest, and dont really follow UK politics as much as I used to. I'm not that passionate about it though that I am going to start campaigning for anyone. "Voting is choosing your oppressor" So really its a case of choosing the least worse option for me. Rightwing loony conservative, No hope of power NDP, or corrupt liberal. Not a very palitable choice right now.

Strangely the US election interested me far more than the canadian one, but maybe that was because the candidates were so different to each other, and at the time a lot seemed to be at stake.

Due to the make up of the canadian federal system Ontario and Quebec dominate things, and the liberals were pretty much assured of power unless they really screwed up...which they seem to have done...pending the official report.

dbd33

I've been in Toronto for twenty odd years and a citizen since 1985. In that time the only Canadian political event to have any bearing on me was the child ban (a phase in the campaign to ban smoking during which smoking was allowed in restaurants but children weren't). That ban irritated me but not enough to get me to vote. As a foreigner I don't feel it's really my place to vote and, in any case, the whole point of Canada is that nothing much happens regardless of elections. I'm an immigrant so, if I vote, I'm obliged to vote Liberal. I suppose, if I ever think there's a real risk of Mr. Plastic Hair and his religious zealots getting their act together I'll go an do my duty but I'm not enthused.

hot wasabi peas

Interesting questions SANDRAPAUL.

As a new resident in Britain, I have voted both nationally and locally and will again in May. I'm aware of a lot of the political issues though I'm not necessarily very knowledgable about most of them, as I am about many political issues in Canada.

I have been involved in specific political issues in Canada for a gazillion years and I'm still very involved. My interest and involvment in them will never fade. I don't have any of that strong political dedication to any British political issue though I am still interested.

The only political things I've done in Britain is vote, attend the big anti-war march a couple of years ago and life my usual 'ethical as I can be' lifestyle. I also gave my local MP the finger but I don't think he saw me .

Scouse

[QUOTE=hot wasabi peas]... I also gave my local MP the finger but I don't think he saw me


What a waste of a vote!!

JAJ

If you are a Canadian citizen why do you say you are a foreigner?

And as for "I'm an immigrant so, if I vote, I'm obliged to vote Liberal" - says who? In a democracy you vote for a party that you *support* but not out of some kind of 'obligation'.

Jeremy

dbd33

I am a foreigner in that I wasn't born in Canada and I have no personal connection with Canada. I have a Canadian passport but so do lots of people, it's a convenience when entering Canada and the US but I don't use it anywhere else, it's not my primary citizenship.

The Liberals are the party of immigration in Canada, but for the Liberals in general and Trudeau in particular, we would not be here. That's why immigrants vote Liberal and why the CRAP haven't a chance in Toronto.

iaink

How do you explain the conservative landslide in the last provincial election then. Personally I dont agree with you that all immigrants vote conservative, Many are small business people and are quite happy to vote otherwise, and vancouver probably has just as high a proportion of immigrants as TO, but is not a liberal stronghold. I dont think immigrants are any different to the rest of the electorate, I certainly dont go around thinking "I'm British" or "'I'm Canadian", or "I'm an immigrant" , I'm just a private individual like anyone else here.

I think its kind of sad that you dont really excercise your right to vote that many millions of people the world over are fighting tooth and nail to get, often at great personal cost.

dbd33

I didn't notice a conservative landslide, I thought the Liberals were elected. I don't think immigrants vote conservative, I think they mainly vote Liberal though I'm off now to meet one who, incredibly, admits to having voted for Big Liv !

iaink

My mistake, having a bad day. What I meant to say was that immigrants certainly do not automatically vote liberal, and that traditionally provincial politics in Ontario is dominated by the Conservatives, as I'm sure you know, having been in Toronto for the last 20 years. The Liberal government in Queens park at the moment is the exception to that rule.

Canadians as a whole mainly vote liberal (in federal elections), thats why we have had so many years of liberal governments, so why should immigrants be any different? But to brand all immigrants together politically is simply not appropriate. Immigrants vote however they want to vote, and someone who would have voted Conservative in the UK would probably still vote conservative after moving to canada. Being an immigrant has nothing to do with it.

Scouse

I must be missing something here.

You say you are a Canadian, but you have no personal connection with Canada?

You have lived in the country for twenty-odd years, but you have no personal connection with the country?

You say that being a Canadian is a 'CONVENIENCE?' - it is not your primary citizenship?

So who or what are you? Why are you living in a country for which you have no sense of belonging? Why are you wasting a PR permit that a lot of people would die for?

I am very, very confused.

willmore

Well said.....karma coming your way!!!!

Happydayz

Well put that man.......

iaink

Dont confuse PR and wanting to live in Canada with Canadian Citizenship. Citizenship is a convenience more than anything. I'm british, but hold canadian citizenship, I will always be british, and am proud to have canadian ties now, but if push came to shove and I had to chose I would be british.

Canadian citizenship makes coming and going easier, and is therefore convenient. It saves applying time and again for the stupid PR card, so its convenient. It allows me to vote, which I feel is a duty if you are going to make this place a permanent home. Noone is wasting anyones PR permit, you need to be a PR before you can apply for Citizenship anyway. Getting citizenship is a sensible next step after that, but you dont suddenly give up the feeling that a large part of you is still tied to the YUK, so canadian citizenship will always be a secondary thing to that..for me anyway.

Scouse

I hear what you are saying, iaink, and I can't disagree too much with it. I think it was the flippant way in which the post came across that rattled my cage........I know, a lot gets lost in the Text translation, etc!!

Perhaps I should just read more and say less!!