Canadian Budget Binder

Toronto seems to have an agenda for taking care of their own as “Toronto Becomes Canada’s first Sanctuary For Illegal Immigrants” according to Yahoo News. Toronto City Councillors voted 37-3 in favour for Motion CD 18.5  an “access without fear” motion of supplying illegal immigrants access to all city funded initiatives this past week. What this means is that they will allow undocumented migrants access to services such as the food banks and shelters and other offerings from the city.

When I read this I thought, oh man here we go the gates are open, but are we being too harsh on Toronto for wanting to help these people? As a legal permanent resident (PR) in Canada I can tell you the process to move to Canada is not an easy process and one that I’m sure I’ll write about in full length one day. I remember reading about people complaining about all the “free” stuff immigrants get when they moved to Canada and thinking, “free” show me the way because “nothing” was handed to me on a silver platter when I became a PR.

In fact I think I was lucky because the entire process was fairly quick only because we had no kids, never been convicted of a crime, never been married etc.. etc. Immigration Minister, Jason Kenny has put provisions in place to speed up the mismanaged immigration system as he puts it because there was over a million people waiting for decisions which took upwards of 9 years for most. It’s no wonder people weren’t waiting around. Kenny says, “We are moving towards a faster immigration system which will allow which will allow us to do a much better job at selecting people likely to succeed in Canada’s economy and likely to integrate quickly and successfully”.

I agree that Canada is compassionate towards refugees and family reunification and I if my mum and dad wanted to move here to be with me then I’d be OK with that as long they could support themselves or I could help them out. When is enough is enough though? There are millions of people who are suffering in this world and my heart bleeds for them and in 2011 Canada accepted 8000 refugees that put in a claim.

I played by the rules and filled out every lick of detail immigration Canada wanted from me and you know what, it wasn’t easy.  If you read my blog you know that I’m well-travelled and I’ve been to some countries where I simply struggled to imagine how people live their lives the way they do. The violence, the crime, the abuse, the hate is difficult at times to take in but it is a reality all over the world even in our own country. I often say that you don’t miss what you’ve never had and justify it from that perspective but when it comes to the basic necessities of life it’s easy to know what you are missing especially if it’s just love.

Photo Courtesy of Victor Habbick/freedigitalphotos.net

Toronto A Diverse City

I’ll admit that my first trip to Toronto was like visiting many countries all at the same time because you pretty much can see it all, hear it all and in some cases do it all in Toronto. Toronto is a very diverse city that has much to offer its visitors and residents and I enjoy living here. It’s like the Mecca for a “new beginning” for people, and for others where they believe they will get noticed, land on the cover of a magazine, a record deal, an acting gig, run the biggest companies or bump into someone famous. In Hollywood, London UK, New York, Vancouver and Toronto are where people believe dreams do come true and for some they may. All it takes is for one person to tell another, you can do this or that and wow, you should see this or that then the “desire” is there to gravitate towards these places.

New Immigration Rules

Just look at Immigration Canada how they had to put stringent rules in place just last year as of October 25,2012  for married couples to prevent marriage fraud. Once you sponsor someone you are committing to an “undertaking” which means you will provide the basic necessities of life including healthcare and financial support so as they do not apply for social assistance. It seems that times vary now but when I moved here my wife had an undertaking of 3 years for me. In that time I had to work hard to build credit in Canada as a new permanent resident and stand on my own two feet, and I did just that.

So what would happen is people would marry, move to Canada, leave them, claim social assistance and then the money they get comes out of your pocket, brilliant.  Don’t say, “oh you should know better” or “you shouldn’t meet online”, or you shouldn’t “date someone overseas”. You could be on business and meet the man or woman of your dreams so do you say, “nope sorry you don’t live in Canada so I can’t date you”. That’s rubbish and silly to say. You can’t control who you love, heck that person in the bar could be anyone they want just like the person on the internet you Skype with or the person you met while vacationing. Don’t be a fool, be smart and don’t let your heart lead the way in everything that you do in life.

Now you have to legitimately live with your spouse for 2 years or you can wave your arse goodbye right back to where you came from. Oh they are not taking any more crap at immigration and I don’t blame them especially with these commercial transactions of marriage. Unsuspecting Canadians are getting screwed so they aim to try and protect them but we should be protecting ourselves. No we are not all that way, but there has to be strict provisions in place, I get it. Others are not so lucky because they are suckered in by so-called “love”  by people who want to leave their crap life and move to the Hollywood Mecca of the world…. Canada. They will do or say whatever it takes to get here and in some cases pay for love.

I had to put a lot of effort into immigrating to Canada from a medical to fees to pay and process my immigration application, never mind the weeks of paperwork that looks like a thick manual. Some of the ways we had to prove our love would shock you but if that’s what it takes to prove to immigration you are in fact a couple that is in love, and in a genuine relationship then you do it. So, yes you bet it’s odd to hear that some people just drop in and never go home and can claim refugee to stay even though I understand there are people who claim refugee status for legitimate reasons. That’s part of Canada’s passion but how far is too far when they all claim it or forget to say, hey I’m in your country to stay by the way, you don’t mind, do you?

The Gates Are Open

I’m not sure what’s going to happen but I can tell you that immigration Canada is making it harder to come here although in some cases it seems we are making it easier which is very conflicting if you ask me. I’m on the fence with all of this to be honest although I’m not sure if we are encouraging people to walk through the gates believing they will be taken care of no matter who they are. I can however see how it’s hard to turn a blind eye to what is already here. There are systems in place in order to sponsor family members  or to claim refugee status and it’s a system that should be complied with. We should focus more on figuring out how to make the system better which I believe and hope Kenny is doing as opposed to us giving in.

Remember though that you can’t fix a problem with a problem. If we all start to do things the wrong way the drain on society will get deeper and deeper. I for one have a solid heart and care but what I don’t have is money to pay for people who aren’t contributing to society, who didn’t have to go through the process like the rest of us. I open my home, I open my ears, I open my heart and I open my arms but I can’t always open my bank account when there’s nothing to give. So for now Toronto may be deemed the new sanctuary and as the yahoo article says, “mi casa e su casa”  which I believe is the new voice of Toronto. There will always be eyes that will tell a story, tears that will break your heart and compassion to save the world but there’s no point putting rules in place if we are sending the message that the gates are wide open to just about anyone.

You can read the full Yahoo article here.

Is this the right move for Toronto?Are we sending the right message?

Share your thoughts?

What’s Been Happening at Canadian Budget Binder?

Not a whole heck of a lot to be honest but I expect some changes to be around the corner for all of us. On the home front I’ve been busy planting my seedlings which I will talk more about in the upcoming weeks. It gave me that distinct feeling that summer was on its way and I feel good about that. Other than that I’ll getting a move on with some things around the house and hopefully finish up some training that I’ve been slated to do. Ever notice there is never a dull day, but that’s OK. As long as I wake up in the morning, surround myself with positive people and keep smiling and love, life is all good.

Check Out This Weeks Canadian Budget Binder Blog Posts

• The Grocery Game Challenge #8 Feb 18-24, 2013 Buy Now or Buy Later
• Mr.CBB’s Personal Finance Reading List #8 – Working Past Age 65
• Income Tax Is Like A Four Letter Word
• Becoming a Single Homeowner Part 2 – Property and Down Payment
• Making The Best Of What Is Available- My Grocery Shopping
• Mr. CBB’s Stuffed Crepes with Lemon, Sugar and Yogurt

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Canadian Budget Binder is fun place where people come to not only learn about our personal finance journey but also to share. 

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• Carnival Of Money Pros:Lost Souls Edition- Money Reasons
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What People Searched to Find Canadian Budget Binder:

Search terms really help me to understand what people are looking for at Canadian Budget Binder! Any typos below are simply how the person who searched typed it in search, or me  Another week of thousands of searches but only a few good ones worth mentioning.

Top Pick: I Need A Spell To Get My Husband Back- No,  you need a spell to wake you up from this awful dream.

• How can we design a grocery store- That’s far beyond the scope of CBB that’s for sure
• Large Canadian Government Websites- Nope, not me either
• What happened to the Driven To Quit Challenge? – I think they cancelled it this year BUT you don’t need the DTQ challenge to quit all you need is to challenge yourself.
• They were on Til Debt Do Us Part- Nope not us
• Women always want to be right- oh oh sounds like someone’s in trouble

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• Chris Selley: Sorry, but it’s simply not possible for council to declare Toronto a ‘sanctuary’ for illegal immigrants (news.nationalpost.com)
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