Whereas the mental disorders of cornucopianism and the obsessive fixation on per capita consumption reductions seem too deeply rooted in Canadian environmentalists who typically speak with a middle class voice,
And whereas ordinary working people are largely unimpressed with white collar and relatively affluent environmental activists who strike an enlightened pose until they feel that own class interests are threatened when the services they demand would become more costly from any restriction in the flow of cheap immigrant labour.
Resolution: Be it resolved that we accept that it is much easier to convert a blue collar “redneck” to the neo-Malthusian principles of restricted immigration and birth disincentives than it is to keep banging one’s head into the brick wall of soft green yuppy population-growth-denial. And that therefore we target that working class demographic with our message rather than persist in the naïve belief that green yuppies will one day experience a shocking epiphany and realize that growth has limits that cannot be stretched by technology, good management, responsible green living or positive perceptions.
Tim Murray, mover of motion.
Graduate of the school of Realpolitik and Unrequited Pursuit of Soft Green Dialogue.
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2 comments:
Don't give up on the middle class just yet. Even we are not immune to the effects of mass immigration. Even white collar jobs are being given to (legal or illegal) immigrants for lower wages. Also consider the people who have watched their neighbourhoods transform into ethnic enclaves. Canadians have been selling their houses to move out of these ethnic enclaves just to move to rural areas further away from their jobs.
You may get blue collars on board for immigration reforms, but it might be more difficult to get them on board for birth disincentives. Often, the people who spent many years on education and building a career tend to get married at an older age, and end up having fewer or no children.
Whether one opposes or advocates population growth will depend on each person's individual life experiences.
Realist, you are certainly right about the middle class too being on the receiving end of the corporate cheap labour agenda. In fact, the Stats Can report of May 2007 revealed that PROFESSIONAL workers were suffering most! Since the mass immigration policy was kicked off by Barbara MacDougal in 1990, through to 2006, while the population of the country increased by 13%, the salaries of professionals went down by 7%. At look at the US will show that among the biggest victims of immigration were IT workers making $100,000 a year who lost their jobs to Asian IT grads who worked for 60% of those wages.
Birth disincentives will take care of only 30% of population growth. If we can get the working class on board we can cut population growth by 70% or more. With our current birth rates, that will presage a drop in overall population growth.
Nevertheless, your point is well taken. I suspect that blue collars have more children or at least have their children much earlier.
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