In U.K. immigration debate, Canada's a factor. Lib Dems go it alone as pro-immigration.

[pampango]

Britain's general election is a unique beast this year. It is the first Facebook and Twitter election, fed by the right-wing press desperate to regain power for the top one per cent of earners, and the left-wing press, paranoid of losing power after 13 years. In the middle are the LibDems. Like all liberals, they are slightly uncertain of what they represent or who their voters are. They sometimes go far left, occasionally to the right, and frequently down the middle - assuming anyone can figure out where "middle" is these days.

"... the "big three" parties are generally trying to avoid immigration if they can help it, fearing adding fuel to the racist British National Party (BNP) fire. Make no mistake, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's "British jobs for British workers" will be one of his lasting bad legacies. It fed the sense that the U.K. has been "over-run" and Britons can't get jobs against foreigners.

The BBC tried to do a "reality check" on Mr. Brown's statement, which was admirable but pointless. Trying to use logic or "fact" in the cocoon of the immigration debate is like firing a bullet at Uranus. It will never hit the target, because the people on said target are living in their own insular world. Immigration is one of those guttural subjects. It festers on rumour and fear and shouting.

So while the LibDems in the U.K. consider a long-term system to welcome individuals, the U.S., Canada, the right-wing parties in the U.K. (I include the Labour Party in that list) and many voters merely consider the quick fix, gut reaction: kick them all out, lock the doors, and enjoy the splendid isolation. Canada was built on immigration, after we took the land that belonged to someone else. The country is great because people wanted to journey here, and any system in any nation must remember that positive contribution during any overhaul, or any election. Then let the sages proclaim that, immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/1029198