…and for this too…….

When I was in Toronto last weekend, I read the local papers for the update.

 

Canada does not feature the local conditions as prominently as they discuss the World Stage.

 They had probably 12 Help Wanted Ads in the Saturday paper……but there were plenty of escort ads in the free weeklies. Apparently, viablility has some assurance if you are a "He-She, into BDSM, and looking for a generous friend".

 

Absurd, and sad.

 

This is a useful distraction.

 

Canada loves to talk about everyone and everything else but the sorry state of their own economy.

That Saturday, however,the Toronto Star did feature a couple, living in an immigrant section of town, who, after adequate education, credentialling, and a sizable start up fund, are finally realizing that Canada is NOT the Land of Opportunity after a one year job search (and their ongoing unemployment).

 

The "Hidden Job Market" is what I know about ( and fled from) in Canada:

1. That jobs are not something that adults hold……….they’re an entitlement from the people who have titular power over the job market. They’re the dispensation of a feudal overlord, and as archaic as that seems, that’s just the way it is. And you’ll grow to hate yourself…..for wanting a ‘good job’…..

2. That it’s justifible to keep educating yourself through the alternative programs that are available through the government, but when you reach a certain age, people look askance at your 3rd Masters degree and your continuing ‘unemployment’.

 Self loathing will become part of your curriculum vitae, and you’ll hardly notice when folks with jobs send their mild barbs your way. You’ll learn to hate (and love) welfare in a way that few people have an opportunity to….

 but you’ll still be so self deluded that you’ll still try to distance yourself from that self definition.

3.That, at some point,  if your uncles friends lover hears about a job 200 kilometers away, some crazy part of your brain will latch onto that reality in a fearsome way, and you’ll find yourself standing in a line with 300 or 400 other hopefuls. And you’ll still hate yourself for your desperation…..in spite of your self image as a person who was destined to better things, and your ongoing recognition of the futility of having a a ‘real job’.

Canada is the most discouraging place on the planet……all the promise of a Developed Country, with half the jobs. Depression like, really, in it’s effects. For the last 20 years or so, at least.

 

Just wake up those 19 year olds I saw resting in a sleeping bag on the corner of Younge and Bloor, and ask them about their dreams…..hope is so hard to qwell, in spite of cruel reality. They’ll respond in time to the 30 year old I saw playing the bag pipes in a freaking kilt in 35 degree weather for dimes, quarters and loonies.

 

 

Oh, Canada