Canada Requires Mexicans to Acquire Visa

There has been a lot of talk around town on the subject of the recent announcement by the government of Canada to require Mexicans entering Canada to have a visa. Some people understand this measure; others express indignation that those nasty Canadians would be so hostile towards Mexicans.

As a Canadian, my only observation is that Canada has finally woken up to the fact that there are a lot of Mexicans with a colmillo* the size of brontosaurus' molar, that have been taking advantage of Canadian immigration policy for years and years.

To give you an example of the Canadians' "innocence" and lack of real-world experience, take the Canadian passport application. I criticized this a while back. There is a section where you are required to get a personal reference from a professional person; the options are doctor, lawyer and policeman.

Policeman.

In Mexico.

I'm not trashing policemen but come on. This reflects the Canadians complete lack of colmillo.

There must be a zillion Mexicans who have taken advantage of Canada's refugee and asylum policies to enter the country with a minimum of effort and at great expense to the Canadian taxpayer, who foots the bill for each and every investigation of these supposed 'refugees'.

If Mexicans are to feel any animosity it should be towards their fellow Mexican huevones* who have screwed this up for them. Another nail in the coffin of the Mexican reputation abroad.

Surprisingly, since I expected a more PRD-ish outlash against the policy, a lot of Mexicans are actually in the same boat on this topic as I am. Have a look at the Universal newspaper website. Their article is very interesting in that it points out:

• Mexican refugee applications from 2005-present, represent 25% of ALL international refugee applications
• In 2008, there were 9400 applications, of which only 11% were proved to be valid

The reactions are in the comments, following the article. Interesting the amount of support shown there.

And to those who insist that the Mexican government should retaliate by applying visa requirements to Canadians, I just laugh. Are the Canadians and Americans coming to Mexico as 'refugees' and getting a check from Calderon each month? Are they lining up to take advantage of the fabulous social infrastructure (like the IMSS) ?

Didn't think so.

It was about time Canada woke up, in my humble opinion.

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* Colmillo - the knack certain people have for determining where and how to make a situation work in their benefit, extracting the maximum advantage for them usually at the expense of the other party

* Huevones - derogative term for lazy people