RM> Canada is referred to by many as a Socialist Democracy, yet is one
RM> of the most popular countries in the world people want to immigrate to.

AT>I understand the sentiment, even as my visceral reaction is to ask "Do you
  >live here". The feelings tend to be a little different expressed by people
  >who immigrate and eventually figure out that:

AT>- Its difficult to immigrate "normally" unless you aim for the refugee route.
  >- Even then, refugees are often dumped in Toronto, homeless and destitute.
  >- No such thing as freedom of speech but there are "hate speech" laws.
  >- Immigrants from cultures do not take too kindly to overabundance of LGBTQ.
  >- Government regulation and taxes are high.
  >- High "Minimum wage" results in higher cost of goods, cost of living etc.
  >- High unemployment in major cities immigrants decide to settle in.
  >- Rental apartments/housing are EXTREMELY difficult to secure in big cities.

I appreciate your comments and admit that things these days are nothing
like they were in the past. There used to be very few refugees, and that
has changed dramatically and gone too far in the last couple of decades.

I guess I was thinking more how things were in the past before they
got carried away with immigration and refugees so, appologies for
generalizing, although Canada is still very high on the list of
countries people want to come to.. The popularity numbers vary by site
but most of them still show Canada in the top 5 countries in the world.

Immigrants used to have to show they had a skill to get a job and
were usually sponsored by people already living here who would
support, and possibly house them, and pay their living costs until
they found a job and could support themselves.

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 * SLMR Rob  * The price of awareness is eternal uncertainty
 * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (618:250/1)