GoldFlyer

If Harper is so worried about the money issue involved in evacuating these people from Lebanon then perhaps he can send an invoice to the Israeli Govt. to cover the cost of disruption such as what Air Canada does to unruly passengers.

I hope the Tories think hard about this before they launch into some expensive enquiry/report on the matter thus wasting more money.

MrCA

You must be a resident of Ontario as shown below:

Eligibility
Ontario residents are eligible for provincially funded health coverage (OHIP). To be eligible for Ontario health coverage you must :

be a Canadian citizen or have immigration status as set out in Ontario's Health Insurance Act, and
make your permanent and principal home in Ontario, and
be physically present in Ontario 153 days in any 12-month period.

dodo

Just to point out that quite a few of these Lebanese- Canadians are still active citizens even though they don't reside here full-time.
In the area where I live, they own houses, pay the Municipal taxes (which in certain areas could be pretty hefty), School taxes, their utilities and pay the schooling of their kids even though they may not live there during the whole year ( in addition to other incidentals like caretakers during their absence or the guy mowing their lawns or clearing the snow). As an example, quite a few parents will leave their kids behind to continue Uni studies and these kids either stay in the parent's house or in paid apartments. Their money do go to the CDN economy no matter how you want to skin that cat.

Some of these people who did go back may still own properties here and it just happens that they got caught in that conflict since they were hoping to enjoy their summer in the old country amongst the two or three generations of family. In some cultures extended family reunions are very common.

Hogtowner

Thanks for giving us the specific number of days. Maybe it was the snowbirds who lobbied to have the number of months you have to be in Ontario at 5....

cur

But not to pay for any service...

Are you freakin' blind? Noticed the Lebanon evacuation where 30-40k Canadians were there? What the hell were 30-40k Canadians doing in a country as small as Lebanon?

The fact that there are way too many dual citizens (4 million) just gives more fuel to stop the practice.

GUWonder

"Absentee citizens" are generally less taxing on the infrastructure and social services since they are not there to consume services (including perhaps services they've paid for but not used in their earlier years) or wear down the infrastructure.

dodo

According to the newspaper, "Some 40,000 Canadians were registered with the embassy in Lebanon when the war broke out in July."

I'm a bit surprised by that number "released during the conflict" by the Embassy. Is that number real or there were double registrations?
Reason: From 1991 to 2000 there were 36,823 permanent residents from Lebanon according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

I realized that the early 80's, there were quite a lot coming to Quebec because of the war but i am still surprised by the number

zorn

A great downward slide in political discourse occurred when "taxpayer" replaced "citizen".

Citizenship is a state of being. If the Government of Canada is able to help Canadian citizens in a time of emergency it should do so. If it can't help, so be it.

In the case of the recent war in Lebanon, our country was easily able to afford getting its citizens out of harm's way and I'm glad we did.

Canada should continue to permit its citizens to keep or obtain citizenship with other countries.

To bring this on-topic, at the very least it allows for more options at airport immigration lineups.

Q Shoe Guy

^

GoldFlyer

MB as a whole, identified long ago that immigration was/is necessary to it's economic stability and thus (through its Provincial Nominee Program) is very active in securing immigrants to the Province.

cur

I second calling an idiot an idiot. Let's re-elect them and allow anyone to hold a Canadian passport even if they never live here. Immigrants are great for Canada. But not the kind who come for the passport and leave.

Hogtowner

People who are in the snowbird age bracket generally are most taxing (of the system) when it comes to health care. And if my parents' friends and acquaintances are any indication, they try and squeeze 12 months of medical procedures into the 6 months they spend in Canada

beaubo

Well, this is my first 'public' post as an AssMod. Because there are so many people who chose to wade into this thread, I just don't have the time or inclination to contact each poster discreetly by PM, which has been my normal MO up to this point.

Further, I have been an advocate about leaving 'OT' topics alone, as the vast majority of them seem to be accepted or at least tolerated by this Forum.

However, when the Bad Post Reports start rolling in combined with a potentially inflammatory subtopic combined with the inherently inflammatory personal attacks and counterattacks, I trust that anyone following this thread can understand why this post requires moderation.

My hope would be that all the parties involved kindly just CHOOSE to self-edit or re-articulate their posts. Editing your posts will NOT be an admission that your opinions or the defense of your opinions are any less valid. I'm just trying to keep such opinions within the broad (methinks!!) TOS guidelines.

So, I hope that I've provided a very TRANSPARENT and defensible reason for having to post here in an AssMod capacity.

Thanks for hearing me out.

beaubo
AC AssMod

Q Shoe Guy

It's rather sad that this is happening on my watch . To add fuel to your bonfire Guava, eloquently calling people zenophobes and racists doesn't sit well in many parts(whether they deserve the label or not). I am sorry that this thread will have to be closed eventually, and some of you will no doubt be hearing from the Senior Mods (Guava, Cur and Winger). With that in mind wouldn't it be better for those of you to delete the offending posts yourselves, before the Senior mods do it for you?
Cheers

Edited to add that I am in complete agreement with Beaubo.....

skofarrell

I can't add much more than what Beaubo and Q have already posted. I would like to remind the AC regulars of a couple of things:

First, if you see a post that bothers you, the only action you need to take is to use the Report Bad Post icon on the lower left hand corner of the post. "Taking the law into you own hands" is not allowed. Personal Attacks are not allowed.

Second, the Asst Moderators are still being trained, and per Randy's instructions are not allowed to act on any threads. That leaves Randy (who is on vacation) and me to formally act. All of the moderators have lives outside FT, so if you hit the Report Bad Post button, give us some time. Follow Beaubo's advice and take a breather.


Thanks

Sean
Moderator AC/Aeroplan