: on the
other hand

NOTES ON the Ali-
Canada Boobyhatch:

You can believe Finance
Minister Paul Martin is serious
about saving money when he
stops using words like caring and
compassionate, by which is real-
ly meant stupid. :

You can also believe him
when Ottawa dumps the
immigration and Refugee Board
and replaces it with immigration
Officers, instead of letting the
refugee industry run the thing.

kt would save tens of millions.
But the plan is to cut a tiny $5.7

. million from the IRB’s bloated
budget of over $110 million and
reduce the panels from two mem-
bers to one. Pure cosmetics. The
system will float happily atong.

No word of cutting the $60
million a year we pay lawyers
for legal aid to immigrants. And
no word, either, of cutting the
$700 million we pay out in wel-
fare for sponsored relatives...

My favorite compassion story:

“Canada vows aid for
Lebanon.”

That was the headline. The
story read: “Canada gave
Lebanon's recovery plans a tan-
gible nod of approval Friday by
pledging $5.5 million to assist
reform of the tax system and
public-service sector.”

That slice of compassion

came from Foreign Affairs
Minister Andre Oullett.
_. Not to be outdone,
Immigration Minister Sergio
Marchi, our biggest compassion
disaster since Trudeau, has given
$1.3 million of your tax dollars

. to help Russia revamp its immi-

’ gration procedure and improve
border control...

Jatinderpal Singh Ubhi has

been convicted of seven counts
of dangerous driving causing
death and injury, He's the Eas
indian who failed to check th
brakes of his dump truck at
Horseshoe Bay.

A mother and her daughter
were killed.

His lawyer says Ubhi has the
mentatity of a seven-year-old.

How come he managed to get
his driving licence’? Was that
another example of compassion in

“action? How many other East
Indian seven-year-olds are driving

big trucks?

In 1994 the NDP government
compassionately presented the
B.C. Teachers’ Federation with
grants worth $1,293,914, This
even though the BCTF is so fat it
can hardly move...

In Prince George, Wayne
Sullivan murders his wife with a
handgun; he pleads he was drunk
and incapable, which the clever
shrinks categorized as a “disso-
ciative condition.” He is now
walking the streets a free man.

But compassion is selective. In
Saskatchewan, Robert Latimer
kills his hopelessly handicapped
daughter by putting her in the cab
of his truck and venting exhaust
fumes into it. She could not walk,
talk or feed herself. He gets 10
years.

In Toronto, columnist Peter
Worthington says the worst cul-
prits in the Airborne Regiment
affair came from the Van Doos, a
Quebec regiment. But they
couldn’t be singled out by Ouawa
because hitting the French
wouldn’t be compassionate. So
the whole Airborne was
scrapped...

Trucks belonging to Canada
Post display the picture of a grin-
ning black man. He is at our ser-
vice, it says. Before that, ads on
the buses showed another grin-
ning black man in soldier's uni-
form. A stranger might think
Canada is part of the Caribbean.
Perhaps it is, we being so com-
passionate.

A newspaper ad for the
Vancity Credit Union shows a
smiling Asiatic woman. “I'm
Vancity,” it says. |

My question: do we belong to
the Caribbean or to Asia?

In 1989, Daljit Singh Powar
was deported from Canada. He
had a long string of criminal con-

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victions, These included impaired
driving, beating people up. and”
stabbing a man while out on bail.
Ve got 2% years.

The story in the Vaicouver
Sua showed he had been ordered
deported before, but was allowed
lo stay. On compassionate
grounds, of course, He was then
arrested for possession of drugs
and showed how compassionate
he was by bashing his wife and
knocking a tooth out.

While in jail he had fraudu-
lently collected $4000 worth of

unemployment benefits.

His wife says she wants him
back because she misses hint, so
an appeal onnel on which another
member of the Singh ciad sat 325%
he can return to this country.

Wouldn't surprise me if the
feds aren't paying his air fare for
him. Canada is compassion coun-
try...

t's a funny old world.

Patients with severe kidney
problems are given free drugs
while in hospital. But when they
leave they have to pay for them

t .
People with AIDS are luckier.
They get their drugs free whether
they are in hospital or not, Why?
- because AIDS is mainly a homo-
sexual disease and homosexuals
count. Especially with the NDP,
which is the compassion party
incarnate... ;
Of the 49,006 immigrants esti-
mated to have arrived in B.C. last
year over 80% were from Asia
and 70% knew no English. -
Be happy, Boobyhatch. And
compassionate.

Dealing with divorce. Snowboarding. Smoking.
Hollywood. North. Classical music “geeks.”
Five kids, five cameras. Their stories, their way.

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