wild goose chase
Active Member
In many US cities where many immigrants arrived when the Cold War was in full swing, there is often a demographic whose politics are strongly shaped by it (eg. tends towards more right wing views). However, this seems to be less strong of an influence in Toronto, despite how much immigration occurred to the city during the Cold War era.
For example, many Eastern Europeans and other groups from the former Soviet Union, Cubans from the Mariel boat lift, Vietnamese from the fall of Saigon etc. are conservative stateside (eg. voting Republican there), hawkish on certain policies towards their homeland, as well as opposed to left-wing policies (eg. trade unionism) that strikes them as too reminiscent of the places they fled from. An example is the older generation Cuban-Americans in Miami recently expressing strong disapproval at diplomatic ties with Cuba, though this is less common a view for younger generations. Do we see this effect here?
While some in Toronto's immigrant communities may be conservative for fiscal or social reasons, based on people I've talked to, I don't associate it as much with the same kind of Cold War legacy. I have, while living stateside, met Eastern European first-generation Americans living in the Midwest that have more explicitly brought up their Cold War era experiences and mentioning how they won't forget what life under communism was like, including many that wanted a stronger stance on foreign policy towards Russia today. Would say a large number of Ukrainian or Polish Torontonians feel equally opinionated and in agreement when Stephen Harper talked about being tough on Russia after the annexation of Crimea happened? Or do immigrant communities here seem to focus more on domestic issues and less hung up about the Cold War past (I feel so, but have no idea if my impression is accurate).
One Cold War legacy in Toronto that is talked about a lot is of course the counter-cultural American one (the hippies and draft-dodgers that came up) and it is in fact seen as more influential in our city's political history (it's said to have made Toronto more left-leaning, especially many who stayed and put down roots). Those who moved here as a result of the Cold War and were more right-leaning, seems not mentioned so much.
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For example, many Eastern Europeans and other groups from the former Soviet Union, Cubans from the Mariel boat lift, Vietnamese from the fall of Saigon etc. are conservative stateside (eg. voting Republican there), hawkish on certain policies towards their homeland, as well as opposed to left-wing policies (eg. trade unionism) that strikes them as too reminiscent of the places they fled from. An example is the older generation Cuban-Americans in Miami recently expressing strong disapproval at diplomatic ties with Cuba, though this is less common a view for younger generations. Do we see this effect here?
While some in Toronto's immigrant communities may be conservative for fiscal or social reasons, based on people I've talked to, I don't associate it as much with the same kind of Cold War legacy. I have, while living stateside, met Eastern European first-generation Americans living in the Midwest that have more explicitly brought up their Cold War era experiences and mentioning how they won't forget what life under communism was like, including many that wanted a stronger stance on foreign policy towards Russia today. Would say a large number of Ukrainian or Polish Torontonians feel equally opinionated and in agreement when Stephen Harper talked about being tough on Russia after the annexation of Crimea happened? Or do immigrant communities here seem to focus more on domestic issues and less hung up about the Cold War past (I feel so, but have no idea if my impression is accurate).
One Cold War legacy in Toronto that is talked about a lot is of course the counter-cultural American one (the hippies and draft-dodgers that came up) and it is in fact seen as more influential in our city's political history (it's said to have made Toronto more left-leaning, especially many who stayed and put down roots). Those who moved here as a result of the Cold War and were more right-leaning, seems not mentioned so much.
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