万锦市长薛家平唱的“月亮代表我的心”可能不会给他带来更多选票

 

 

上周六，反对“非法越境者”和支持难民和偷渡客的市民同时在万锦市政府大楼前示威。在警察到来前，示威演变成了暴力冲突。警察到场维持秩序后，有人发表了演讲，随后人群散去，没有人被抓。

A demonstration between those opposed to "illegal border-crossers" and those who support refugees and migrants took place at the Markham Civic Centre turned violent last Saturday. A fight broke out before police arrived on the scene. After some speeches, the crowd dispersed and no arrests were made.

 

一个由几乎完全由来自中国大陆的移民组织表达了他们的不满。他们听说市长薛家平支持万锦市与约克天主教教育局合作，准备将多达5,000的难民或偷渡客入住万锦市那些空置的大楼里。 

A group made up almost entirely of Mainland Chinese-Canadian citizens, appeared to be voicing their displeasure after they say they heard that Mayor Frank Scarpitti supports having Markham co-ordinate with the York Catholic District School Board to host as many as up to 5,000 refugees or migrants at unused buildings in Markham.

 

薛家平不否认在大量偷渡客涌入多伦多后，他曾与多伦多市长庄德利和其他市的市长“召开电话紧急会议”，讨论在多伦多房源不足的情况下暂时让这些偷渡客到其他城市落脚。薛家平发表声明说:“庄德利要求其他市政当局看看手中有无可以作为临时住房的地点或设施，哪些雇主可以给这些偷渡客提供工作机会。安省各地的市长都表示会帮助多伦多，包括看看自己管辖的市区内有无多余的庇护所，有无可以作为临时住房的场地，以及有无季节性的或全职的工作机会。”

The Mayor did admit to having discussions with Toronto Mayor John Tory during an “urgent call” earlier this month with other large city mayors about the temporary housing shortage issue in the City of Toronto due to the increase in asylum seekers. And he said in the statement that “Tory requested that municipalities identify any sites or facilities that could be repurposed as temporary housing, as well as connections to employers for job opportunities. Mayors from across the province offered their support including examining existing capacity within their shelter systems, potential temporary housing sites and facilitating opportunities for seasonal and full-time employment.“

问题是薛家平的这一政治权术和防止市民不满的努力没有奏效。人们发现薛家平在与总理会面之前发布了以下推特：

This effort to spin and control the damage did not work as it was subsequently revealed that the Mayor tweeted the following prior to his meeting with the Prime Minister earlier:

“期待与特鲁多总理探讨万锦市和约克区的一些大事，包括万锦市如何为那些偷渡客提供庇护场所”。 

“Looking forward to discussing Markham and York Region priorities with Prime Minister Trudeau including our city's offer to help with providing shelter for asylum seekers”.

 

此推特要表达的再也清楚不过了:薛家平自己要“上杆子”。薛家平后来把这个推特删除了，以为没人会留意。不幸的是，人们还是把薛家平逮了个正着。 

The tweet clearly inferred that help was “offered” without solicitation. It was then deleted by the Mayor in the hopes that no one managed to capture it on screen. Unfortunately for the Mayor, the genie was out of the bottle.

万锦市长候选人吕善华和第二选区议员候选人蒋嘉勤于8月1日早晨向万锦市副市长希思递交了一个有1500人签名的请愿书，要求万锦市不要接受任何“偷渡客”。薛家平显然对此举头疼。他谴责这批人误导大众，煽动社区在偷渡客问题上采取不同立场。

A candidate running for mayor (Shan Hua Lu) along with ward#2 candidate Charles Jiang presented a 1,500-name petition to Markham deputy mayor Jack Heath the morning of Aug. 1 calling on Markham not to accept any "irregular border crossers" into the city. Frank Scarpitti was clearly worry about this as he went on to criticize the instigators for spreading misinformation in an effort to whip up the community and to get the community to take a particular stand.

 

薛家平还嘲笑这两名候选人在请愿书上拼错了万锦的市名。他没有意识到自己的工作人员当天向媒体发布新闻稿时也拼错了别人的名字。俗话说,“不要总是把一张嘴搁在别人身上。”

Frank also ridiculed the two candidates as having misspelled the City's name of “Markham” on their presented petition. Little did he realize his own staff member also misspelled someone's name on a media release the same day. As the saying goes, “mistakes happen and people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”

 

我能理解这些华人移民的感受。他们觉得自己是“付了代价”和“等候”才能来加拿大，并享受这里的福利。而“偷渡者”（大多数被蛇头带入纽约的）在确认是否是真难民前，不用排队就可以享受两年的福利住房，食物和医疗保健。即使难民申请被拒绝，他们还可以上诉。无论是多伦多或万锦都要为这一账单付钱，且最终都得由纳税人支付。去年，大多数偷渡客来自南美洲和加勒比海。今年，偷渡客主要是来自非洲的尼日利亚。

I can understand the feelings of the demonstrators. They feel that they have "paid" their way and "time" to wait for approval to come to Canada to enjoy its benefits of social welfare and security. It is therefore improper for "illegal border crossers" (majority of those flew into New York by snakeheads) to jump the queue ahead of others and enjoy a minimum of two years of accommodation, food, and health care awaiting the asylum/refugee claiming process which can be further extended by appeals. These expenses, regardless of who (Toronto or Markham) is paying, ultimately come off the tax dollars. Last year, majority of the illegal border-crossers were originating from South America and the Caribbean. This year, it is primarily Nigerians from Africa.

 

几年前，薛家平在万锦兴建体育馆一事上给自己惹了一身骚，这次抗议又一次冲着他去。他从中国大陆移民手中夺取选票的机会显然会降低。

For the first time in memory since the arena fiasco a few years ago, Frank Scarpitti's name was identified in a demonstration. His ability to capture voters from Mainland Chinese Canadians is diminished.

 

华裔人口在约克区占24％，在万锦占45％。他以普通话唱“月亮代表我的心”这首歌来拉票可能不如以前那么奏效。虽然他唱的粤语歌“上海滩”可能赢得那些认为“港人不是大陆人”的香港移民选票而让他连任，但他的得票总数不会达到他在上次选举中数字。

York Region has a 24% component of Chinese-Canadians and Markham's component is 45%. His mandarin rendition of “The moon represents my heart” may therefore not be as effective as before. While he will probably still be elected on the strength of “Hong Kong Chinese not of mainland origins” with his Cantonese version of “Shanghai Beach”, his vote totals will not be at the level of what he received during the last election.

 

下一篇文章我们将继续探讨万锦的各个选区及选区候选人。

We will further examine the other wards in Markham and their candidates next time.