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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2016-08-03, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, August 3, 2016 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com ikon Expositor PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 69, 8 Main Street Seaforth Ontario NOK 1 WO phone: 519-527-0240 fax: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor E POSTMEDIA r+ NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist shaun.gregory@sunmedia.ca DIANNE MCGRATH Front Office seaforth.classifieds@sunmedia.ca NANCY DEGANS Media Sales Consultant ndegans@postmedia.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GS1) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 69 Seaforth ON NOK 1 WO For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-527-0240 Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Seaforth Huron Expositor is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www. mediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada It's a short week, good because I need a break So it was a Civic Holiday this past Monday. This means instead of our standard Monday at 9 a.m. Deadline, it was pushed back to the Friday before. Luckily we have an amazing organization here at Postmedia Network because the people putting our paper together let us slide here at the Expositor and give us until noon. A leeway that is more than appreciated. This is what makes the world go around. We as a nation in Canada need a darn break sometimes. You can be some random person working at a factory, watching the same machine for 14 hours. With your safety glasses on and sweat drip- ping down your eyes because it's 45 degrees Celsius. The only time you hear a conversation is when you here the people at the machine say, "1, 2, 37 "down," Column Shaun Gregory and then, "1, 2, 37 up. (If you guessed that was me before). Most of the time these men and women will not even get paid for the holiday. But you know what, at least this day is responsible for letting the person have a much- needed day off from work A break here and there is a must, if you like your sanity. Well that's what people tell me. That statement alone gives me anxiety. This paper is my life, I wake up to it, I go to sleep from it a 4 a.m. putting a paper together. So taking a breather is hardly ever an option. But you know what I cannot complain; I have the best job in the world as I am able to write about whatever I want. Most importantly though is the Seaforth and area reader- ship, they are incredible and the feedback we have received lately has been just mind-boggling. Two months ago, we had two of our stories literally go bananas on the Internet. A huge portion of that success is from our expo- sure on social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.) To the best of my knowledge it was a story about Lyme Disease and another about the special van built for a family in Seaforth. Together, the two racked in roughly 20,000 views in 24 hours. It was instrumental, that month we had about 54,000 views. I have some of the previ- ous analytics and they were scratching the surface with 16,000-20,000, monthly, you smoked those stats readers. I refer to it as you because it is you people who read our stuff and we appreciate it. So I'm sorry if the paper's con- tent is a little lighter this week, as I mentioned earlier, this paper is my life but this week the family needs daddy and my girlfriend needs her boyfriend to do some work around the house. Next week I will write until my hand hurts, I promise you. This weekend though, I'm golfing and taking the kids to the beach. Go have fun out there folks, signing out from Main Street in Seaforth, from Shaun AKA the man who just needs a little break. Immigrant `conversation' designed to boost Grits Earlier this month the federal government launched a "national conversation" on immigra- tion in which it invites Cana- dians to tell it what they think immigration means for Can- ada and how we can con- tinue to grow our nation through immigration. Such a dialogue is long overdue and I have argued for it on a number of occa- sions when speaking before parliamentary committees. Questions as to how many and what sort of immigrants we need and the extent to which immigrants contribute to the economic well-being of Canadians as well as strengthen society through increasing diversity are cru- cial and have a major impact in determining what kind of country we are to be. Regrettably, however, the framework the government has provided for the conversa- tion attempts to pre -determine the course of the discussion in order to ensure it reflects Lib- eral Party priorities. The question of how diverse Canadian society should become is one of the most important -- particularly when one looks at some of the problems affecting many Western European countries. The "national conversa- tion's" assertion that "Cana- da's strength lies in its diver- sity," however, does not correspond with reality. While a well-managed and moderate increase in diversity can enrich a society in various ways, it is also clear that unlimited diversity has a neg- ative effect on societal cohe- sion and national identity. This has been well-docu- mented by scholars such as Harvard professor Robert Put- nam, whose research found that, as urban communities become more and more diverse, the levels of social cohesion and trust decline. This has been amply dem- onstrated in Europe, where the social as well as economic integration of many immi- grants with very different cul- tural values and traditions from those of the host nations has been impeded as their numbers grew. The suggestion that Cana- da's strength lies in its diver- sity, nevertheless, implies that our society will endlessly benefit from becoming more and more diverse. The question then has to be asked why the government is promoting its "national con- versation" based on a slogan that doesn't make sense. The answer becomes clear from other sections of the conversation's press release when it states that the govern- ment is committed to a sys- tem that supports diversity and helps grow the economy. The fact is that, while immi- gration makes the economy larger, it doesn't improve the standard of living of the aver- age Canadian: it simply cre- ates a larger pie that is divided into more, and usually some- what smaller, pieces. Indeed the latest research indicates that recent immi- gration is very costly to Cana- dian taxpayers -- to the tune of around $30 billion a year -- in addition to raising house prices beyond the reach of most young Canadians in large cities such as Vancou- ver and Toronto, increasing congestion and commute times and pressuring health- care services. While there been periods when we have benefitted from large-scale immigra- tion, this is not one of them. Canada does not face major labour shortages and has suf- ficient human capital and educational and training facilities to meet almost all our needs. The "national conversa- tion" leaves no doubt its real purpose is to promote large- scale immigration and diver- sity in order to increase sup- port for the Liberal Party of Canada. We very much need a com- prehensive, well-informed and balanced review of immigra- tion policy -- but not the phony `national conversation" the government is attempting to foist on the public. 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