Say hello to Partie Chinoise

A new provincial party has been established in BC. Its goals are to "create better living and working conditions for immigrants and raising the profile of all Chinese living overseas". The party is named "national alliance party"; no more, no less. May I ask what nation are they referring to?

It seems like in addition to the First nations (the aboriginals) as well as Second nation within Canada (Quebec) we'll soon have Third nations - immigrants from China. If you think I'm wrong - try to explain the logic behind using the word "national" to name an ethnic-based political party.

At a press conference to unveil the party, party leader Weiping Chen, who originally hails from Beijing, said first-generation immigrants face challenges that the other political parties have failed to address.

"It’s not only about jobs but many other supports that immigrants need that they’re not getting from the government," Chen said in Mandarin. "Many immigrants arrive in Canada with master’s degrees and can only find work in convenience stores," he said.

(Source)

Wait a second. Did someone force Chen to come here? Was he sentenced to life in Canada or did he choose to settle in Canada at his own will? If Chen believes that going to Canada was a bad choice - why should Canadians be held responsible for it? After all, the doors are open and if he doesn't like it in Canada, he could choose any other country to settle in.

Let's say - Australia. They too have the skilled workers immigration program, just like Canada. But here's the catch - Australia requires each potential immigrant to have his language and employment credentials confirmed by a competent authority before they are even allowed to submit their application. Those who make it, have much less problems finding jobs that suit their skills. But of course, that makes it more difficult to get in than under a Canadian model, where having a diploma and a proof of work experience is considered enough. Could that be the reason why Chen didn't choose Australia in the first place?

There's no official ban on the immigration reform debate, but no political party dares to touch the issue nowadays. Back in 2001, as the Parliament was debating the new immigration act, Canadian Alliance called for a complete overhaul of our immigration laws, with the proposed system being quite similar to the Australian model. The advantages were obvious. Not only the new system would have made job search easier for the newcomers, but it would have reduced the processing time to 3-6 months, as opposed to 3-6 years it takes to obtain immigration visa under existing model.

Immigration reform was integral part of the Canadian Alliance platform. But when the Alliance was merged into the leftovers of the Mulroney party, the old PC functionaries did their best to ensure the new Conservative party by no means resembles the good old Canadian Alliance.

So we've got the "national alliance party" instead. Chen made it clear that the goal is to establish a Federal party as well. Thus in addition to the Partie Chinoise we might as well have the Bloc Chinois. How do you say "Vive La Colombie Britannique Libre" in Chinese? I guess we'll find that out soon enough.