When will people use their brains...?!

Here's a story that I just found in the local media. A missionary couple from Calgary were attacked by machete wielding gangsters in Kenya. Here's an excerpt:

'In a cell-phone interview with The Canadian Press from his hospital bed in Nairobi, John Bergen described the attack by men who left him for dead and repeatedly raped and beat his wife earlier this week.'

"All of a sudden, right there in the middle of the yard, is about four or five guys that jumped me and knocked me to the ground and started attacking me with clubs and machetes, clobbering me and cutting me and so on, and scars will be on my legs to show it. "I just didn't know how I was going to come out of this alive. They were just real mean."

But the couple have stated that they will NOT be leaving kenya and continue to help the orphans there. A very noble intent no doubt, but I honestly think they are crazy. You can only help people who are civilized and accept your help graciously and with gratitude, not bite the same hand that feeds them. By the way, the night watchmen who were supposed to guard the compund where the Bergens were staying, were sleeping like donkeys when the attack occured.

It's about time that Canadians use reason rather than emotions before going to dangerous countries like kenya for their so-called missions. Africa is in a mess, with anarchy and lawlessness everywhere. You have people leaders fighting for power and dictators like mugabe murdering his own people. There is no reason for us to be caught in-between their tribal warfare.

There have been quite a few incidents of Canadians travelling abroad, getting into trouble and then the government pays for the expenses like medical and transportation costs, and all of that comes from taxpayers money.

Use your brain people, help the needy in your OWN country, and city; there are plenty who need help here. Let others sort out their own problems.

Why Calgary is not attractive to migrants anymore

According to CBC News, the flow of people from other provinces to Alberta has slowed down considerably. In-fact, a lot of folks have moved back to their respective provinces. In addition to that, numerous families are transplanting themselves in less expensive places like Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

One of the major reasons for this slowdown is the insanely expensive real estate in Calgary (and Alberta as a whole). Here are some of the comments that people have left on a website relating to Alberta's soon to be bust;

"This Province has seen an amazing boom over the years,
but unless you are getting an amazing amount of money,
it is to the point where it's not affordable to live here anymore.
Not everybody is making it rich from the oil industry.
A lot of people are struggling just to make ends meet"

There is no doubt that the cost of living in Calgary has risen quite a bit, for some folks, disproportionately to their income. The city has done it's part to raise municipal taxes to suck out the last hard-earned dollar from the labourer.

Some people have also complained that us westerners - that is, the folks from the Canadian West - have not been very welcoming and friendly, even though we tout our western hospitality. There is a lot of truth to that as well.

A comment from another reader points to the regional animosity between central and western Canadians;

"Alberta has developed a strong hatred to people who
come from other provinces. I think that they prefer
minorities from third world countries that they can
pay only minimum wages and give all the really menial
jobs to. Canadian from other provinces know how much
their labour is worth. Third world labourers don't.
Do I think they are predjudiced? Yes.
Are Alberta companies really cheap? Absolutely!"

Well I'm not sure if hatred is the right word here, but there sure is a lot of resentment from the past when central Canada had all the goodies and provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan were dirt poor and had slogans like, "The West wants in.."

Since Canada does not have the problem of illegal immigration like the United States, Canadian companies look to these so-called "Third World" countries to provide them with workers in the form of immigrants and refugees. Alberta companies are cheap no doubt, but so are Canadians, who are too selfish to have kids and establish families, and Alberta is the largest offender in this regard, (but that's another topic for a future blog post).

I hope that Calgary does not lose it's status as a city where anything is possible and where folks come to realize their big dreams. And in order for that distinction to be maintained, the large, and ever-increasing divide between the rich and poor will have to be narrowed so all of us, in this Heart of the New West, can live a fulfilling life.