Ontario Premier Doug Ford made some controversial comments this past Monday and has doubled down refusing to apologize. He made a remark regarding the productivity of new immigrants in Canada and the required labour needed to be accepted here. “You come here like every other new Canadian has come here, you work your tail off,” Ford said, after he noted a problem on labour shortage. “If you think you’re coming to collect the dole and sit around, not going to happen. Go somewhere else. You want to work, come here. We have so much work, we can’t keep up with it right now.”
The backlash has mostly come from opposition members of the Democratic and NDP who spoke out on social media against his actions. Ontario’s liberal party leader Steven Del Ducas stated, “This kind of divisive language is deeply disappointing. A Premier is supposed to unite Ontarians, not wedge us further apart”. Some may say he was solely emphasizing the importance of everyone doing their part in working hard and helping the economy grow. What makes it controversial is how the comments come off as though he’s insinuating that many immigrants don’t do their part in being productive skilled workers and lay back at the hands of the government which is truly not the case.
The facts are that the greater part of new immigrants to Canada are skilled workers. It is already a prerequisite and if you aren’t you will most likely not be accepted into the country. Individuals who don’t have a job waiting for them need to show they are able to support themselves financially. Many are here to sponsor their families and earn money for them back home. Also welfare isn’t much of an option for most immigrants as it isn’t even available to them. This isn’t his first incident as he has a past of making such remarks. Ford claimed later during a question period about his comments that there is “no one more pro-immigrant” than himself. What do you guys think about the controversy? Were his comments valid or was he clearly in the wrong here. Leave a comment down below.
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