http://www.nshb.net/canada-pension-or-refugee-status-its-your-retirement
It is interesting that the Federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can also get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00. This compares very well to a single pensioner who after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 to 50 years can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees! Lets send this to all Canadians, so we can all be ticked off and maybe we can get the refugees cut back to $1,012.00 and the pensioners up to $2,470.00 and enjoy some of the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 years. Please forward to every Canadian to expose what our elected politicians are doing to the over taxed Canadian.
My boss just forwarded me this “info” in an email, asking, “do you think this is true?” Unfortunately, my company seems to have a fair number of closet racists who reveal their true feelings by forwarding crap like this, invariably with the addition of vapid comments like “Interesting!” which they must believe absolves them of any negative intent.
Here’s my answer to her, though one should note that the reply to the linked blog post is far more effective and concise than my own quick observations:
Three things to remember, here:
1) Lots of people who harbour less-than-philanthropic attitudes tend to make them known in emails like this, without giving any supporting data or statistics.
2) Refugees are typically arriving from impoverished countries, with very little in savings or possessions. Try establishing a life or finding a place to live in a new, expensive city like Toronto on $1000.
3) At a certain point, I assume, refugee claims expire, and you become part of the general population. I highly doubt you could claim refugee assistance forever.
Grains of salt are always advisable prescriptions for emails such as these.