Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

I admit I was annoyed when I heard how much the government promise to bring 250000 refugees to Canada was going to cost especially as this figure wasn't publicised when the promise was made. They must have had a rough idea of the cost otherwise how could they make the promise?
I think my problem at the moment is I have a very low level of respect for politicians of every party as hardly any of them seem to think long term and certainly don't seem to think about the consequences of their actions.
I do think it's a very fair criticism to make about our leaders that they would much rather strut around the world stage talking about world problems saying all the "right" things rather than dealing with ongoing "boring" difficult problems at home.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

But you seem to have an even lower level of respect for refugees. Yes there will be an economic, political, cultural cost. If the numbers were large, say 700,000 refugees in Canada's case (about 2% of population) then maybe there would be an argument to cost it all out, but at the trivial numbers that teh UK and Canada are considering, it's best just to get on with it.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

I consider $1.2bn a lot of money.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

Do you? It's a couple of shopping centres or maybe three A380 aircraft.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

Yes it would cover the cost of
providing clean water for 300 million people. Wouldn't that be a better comparison that shopping centres?

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

Where are these 300 MN people? How would Canada build the clean water infrastructure? Would there be any need to partner with governments that don't already provide the water? Would there be any kickbacks involved? How long would it take? Why stop there? Should we not feed the millions that are hungry too?

Shopping centres/planes are a practical example of how small $1.2BN is in relation to the Canadian economy, and in relation to 25,000 lives.

At least when our UK friend argues against taking in refugees, he is fairly clear that he simply doesn't trust or want them in the country. For some reason your arguments are always cloaked in some sort of faux-sympathy...that you'd love to support the refugees, but, damn money is tight, just can't afford it.

It's not an economic problem. Muddying the waters with world poverty doesn't address the issue of these refugees. There are plenty of positive arguments for taking them too, not least moral. Don't be afraid of them, their kids will become doctors and teacher and plumbers and leaders. Canada of all countries should be wide open to immigration.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

It might have been earlier on this thread that I mentioned a study by SFU of the Vietnamese refugees that concluded the net cost to Canada was zero. Then we get the benefit of their children. It is more of an investment than an expense.

Sorry if facts get in the way ...

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

We have that in common.
It's why I'm not bothered about going for citizenship.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

The Vietnamese refugees arrived in different economic times and from what I've read and seen they have done exceptionally well economically and socially everywhere they have settled. That is not something you can say about many refugees/migrant communities from the Middle East and North Africa who would make a better point of reference.

I think I've said enough on this particular point as I'm sure some of you would agree. Thanks for your opinion even if I don't agree :-)

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

You'd be surprised of how some area's in Canada lack consistently safe drinking water.

Although probably take more then 1 or 2 billion to fix the issues.

Clean drinking water is more scarce than you may think, Canada | CTV News

Bad water: 'Third World' conditions on First Nations in Canada - Manitoba - CBC News

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

Or 4 state of the art fighter planes.

Top 10 Most Expensive Military Planes Manufactured In America - Financesonline.com

Like the last government had flying over Syria dropping million dollar bombs at a time.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

Exactly.

You'd expect the $1.2 billion to be recouped over time as these people assimilate to Canadian life.

Also the money is not being flushed down the toilet the $1.2 billion is being spent within Canada on food and shelter so it is not going anywhere other than to local business.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

Hopefully this cartoon appears. https://s3.amazonaws.com/telegraph_j...07671-8271.jpg

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

That's something that can't be guaranteed and the $1.2bn may end up rising or in fact may be paid back.

Part of the initial German positiveness about Syrian refugees was based on them filling all the skill shortage gaps in the workforce, probably based on the profile of many of the very early refugees/migrants from Syria (before 2015) which were a relatively well educated cosmopolitan group. However they have now found overall the education levels of more recent refugees from Syria are very low and the failure rate on training courses (some of the best in the world) extremely high.

At this stage we don't know if the refugees will be selected on the basis of how well they might integrate into Canada or will be based on need (medical etc) or more random.

Re: Syrian refugee crisis.
 

I thought you were not going to say any more.

You are on the wrong side of history and your increasingly desperate attempts to sh*t stir are boring.