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Another flaky government scheme to increase births
by Scott Gilbreath ~ April 22nd, 2009
Ivan Court, mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick, has a brainstorm.
The mayor of Saint John is urging the provincial government to offer free tuition as a way to spur on a baby boom after the latest demographic portrait of the southern city shows it is not growing very quickly.
[…]
“When I taught high school three years ago, most people were saying they weren’t going to have children because they couldn’t afford to educate them,” Court said.
I’ve heard a lot of excuses reasons not to have children, but I must admit that’s a new one on me. Haven’t New Brunswick parents heard of student loans?
Free post-secondary education would be the responsibility of the province, not the city—a convenient way to shift the blame for Saint John’s problems off the mayor’s desk.
Mayor Court’s parting shot is a puzzler.
“We’re typically Canadian born, white people, speak English. I mean that’s what Saint John looks like,” he said.
Very observant.
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April 24th, 2009 at 02:39 PM
When he was teaching high school? Which ones were saying this? Not the parents of his students, presumably.
I think that last quote is him saying he’d rather replace his population by getting women to have more babies rather than welcoming more immigrants. Seems like a statement he might regret later on, though.