Canadians, what about us?

Editor’s Note: This sharp, witty perspective by Adrian Reece provides a fascinating window into the challenges of a previous season, and offers subtle clues on how to conquer the challenges of our present one.

Following news of Ford changing the state of OSAP, Mark Carney announces funding of 100 million dollars for International Indian students. These students will receive a full scholarship, covering housing, tuition and books and materials for classes at prestigious universities across Canada.

Social media has already erupted in an uproar regarding the news. Everybody is questioning why citizens are not receiving the benefits of being Canadian, while other countries are given the benefits of taxpayer dollars. Ford recently said that money doesn’t grow on trees when he changed the OSAP structure to 75% loans and 25% grants. Now it looks like Canada really can find the money, however they simply aren’t interested in using it to the benefit of Canadian Citizens.

Canadas interests have been outside of the borders for a while now, with mass immigration and money allocated to other countries, Canadians have been suffering from a high cost of living, low wages and resources going to others who do not contribute to the Canadian economy.

Canadians are upset, post-secondary education is a massive stressor to students already, when they consider the loans, they will have to pay back, not their repayments will be even larger, and instead of further subsidizing Canadian loans for education, money is being given to foreigners.

Canadians are fed up with their money being allocated elsewhere; they believe that efforts should be made to improve Canadian problems, and to stop pushing for collaborations and partnerships with foreign countries at this time.  This is another slap in the face of citizens. Canadians will be paying back more and more for the same education that is being given freely to Indian students. People who were born in this country and grown up here feel like second class citizens in their own cities and provinces.

Thirteen Universities will be in partnership with India for Student and faculty exchanges. University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser, Dalhousie, Algoma, University of Guelph, Brock University and Royal Roads University. They will be partnering with Indian post-secondary institutions in joint academic programming, collaborative research, pathway programs and innovation in emerging sectors like AI and clean energy. Some exchanges that will be included are performing arts, visual arts music, publishing and entertainment technologies.

People are unsure of the direction that the Canadian government is trying to go, decisions made are making Canadians feel like interests are elsewhere, when they should be focused on life within borders before life outside of borders is considered.

These decisions are drowning Canadians in more debt and more hardship. As the cost of living continues to rise and immigration continues at high rates, people continue to become frustrated with our political leaders.

The repetition of bad decisions has been snowballing for almost a decade, the liberal government continues to put Canadians last, and this is possibly the most frustrating thing for young adults. This is causing many people to lean towards more conservative values and desire a more traditional approach to government, which focuses on Canada first and international interests second. It goes without saying that a country should focus first on ensuring that what happens on its own land is beneficial for those who live there, and then helping and building with others can occur in a way that benefits both parties mutually, however it looks like foreigners are benefiting and Canada is suffering completely.