Welcome to Canadaville

While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the motivations of Magna's corporate opportunities in Canadaville, and the win-win-win possibilities for the Katrina evacutees with homes/jobs/schools, amazing infrastructure enhancements for Simmesport, and a new business venture for Magma, hasn't anyone learned from history?
Simmesport has 52% white/47% African-American and 28% of families have children under 18 years old, with a median annual income of $18,000...the cycle of poverty, racism and lack of fodder for innovation is alive and well in Simmesport.
From the CTV tv piece, the Mayor's about as innovative, trustworthy and competent as a socio-economic architect as &*$%!
Listen folks. You have a gold-plated opportunity with the Magna contract, to make something better for your kids and your communities! Community centre? Sports infrastructure?? Police services??? What is your town council doing to deal with the real issue of social stability?
The Mayor is a hypocrite who doesn't honour his contractual agreements and had no business negotiating this type of arrangement, nor continuing on a decision-maker for the future.
In Canada, where mining companies or other industry sets up in a small town, they do the same thing, because it's recognized internationally as basic social and corporate responsibility.
They support the development of the community with the infrastructure needed to support the people - support education, social, cultural and healthy activities, to reduce the impact of social uprest; reduce crime and bridge people across common needs.
It's clear your Mayor and Council aren't equipped to follow through for the longterm - to see that its responsible to all the people; the racism; the stereotyping; and lack of vision, is the biggest problem.
The CTV program showed a lot of community support for Canadaville, and that many citizens (apart from a few beer drinking, gun toting rednecks, with their kids in earshot hearing all the racist white supremest hype) see the benefits of letting Canadaville and Magna continue through its commitments.
People - social upheaval - new things - opportunities - need support to grow and be good. You put roadblacks up every inch of the way, you doom it to fail.
Too bad Simmesport. Canada is known for peacekeeping and being the best model of multiculturalism in the world.
What's the American credo? Give us your poor....yadda yadda yadda?
Yeah right. Go back to your Constitution - move beyond the gun toting rights - and get your heads out of your a**. You haven't progressed much past the Civil War...except that you can all afford nice big plasma screens, but not much else.

I feel so sorry for the people of Canadaville for being put right beside of open racist rednecks. after watching the W5 episode tonight I was left shaking my head at the blatant racist remarks I heard in from of a 4 year old kid. I right thought racism was over with in the USA but after W5 its alive and well as ever before.

The USA has some serious issues to deal with and the first one that should be met head on is to give racist some jail time. I don't mean being sent with their own kind which is more racist rednecks. I mean they should throw them in with only black prisoners maybe after a 6 month stint they will gladly accept black folks as their neighbors.

Until then the US will always be know as a racist country, I am very surprised that the Jews are safe in the US then again they hate the Arabs just as much as the blacks and the Mexicans now.

Even with our dollar high then the US dollar now I would never visit anywhere in the USA for I am a non white which means I am not welcome in the US.

I am so in agreeance with the comments made by ttrthteller. First of all I can't believe such a limited, incompetent, arrogant man such as the mayor is running this town regardless of how small it is. It was pointed out that the mentality of areas in the south are foreign to the majority of North Americans' but I didn't realize that the difference was plain stupidity and ignorance of some of the citizens of Simmesport. It seems to me that many citizens should not be classed with the mayor but the few ignorant ones that were seen on the TV program seemed to me to be stuck in the 1920's. I'm quite sure after listening to the comments these individuals bask in the ignorance of being rednecks and if it wasn't so pathetic it would be funny. Referring to black people as not wanting 'one of them' walking down the street at night, sitting on porches with their guns to protect themselves makes me wonder what rock these people have been living under. The audacity to classify all blacks as below themselves is ludicrous (no doubt a word they wouldn't understand. Now if disaster hit this handful of rednecks I certainly would be the first to drum them out of my area because ignorant, hate mongers certainly wouldn't be welcome. As for them being bent out of shape because the Canadian flag is flying, let me tell you that up here in Canada residential homes quite often fly both the Canadian flag and the American flag, which drives me crazy because I don't want the U.S. to have anything to do with Canada, but that's another story. As for Frank Stronach, the mayor's vision is so limited, he should be greatful to this generous man, not only for housing many people but for trying to better the whole town. And no I'm not a person of colour...I am a white person living in Ontario Canada whose many ancestors landed in Massachusetts in the early 1600's.

I seen the mess mines leave behind in Canada and who cleans it up no one. Kinda like the invisible infrastructure that Magna built. The Mayor stood up and wanted what Magna promised and in true Canadian business fashion Magna backed out of it's agreement with Simmesport and the refugees. Canada has more pollution from business all disguised by the propaganda that this great vast wilderness is clean and pure. Well those day's are gone long, long gone.

OK, lets admit it we've been found out. All good trailer parks are full in Ontario and we need to take over Simmesport and make it Muskoka South. All kidding aside this community should embrace this project, it could turn it around from what I saw tonight on W5. A new Mayor is on the way I understand and hopefully he can turn it around. Embrace the Mounties because the Cavalry isn't coming over the hill anytime soon.

When I first heard of this story in Southern California.. it was next to a story on the salton sea .. I immediately saw the contrast. one person providing a place for hope and seeing how change could happen for the better (organic farming and maybe even solar and wind energy) and the other story showing how a lack in preparation could cause over $8 billion on environmental damage and it taking 75 years to reverse it. i see the good in canadaville along with the obvious ignorance in america. this needs to get out and be a tv series. i saw it this past summer and i see it now with you bloggers. there is subtle racism, blatent racism and yes, even reverse racism. LA doesn't get to keep it's oil revenues, yet TX does ..thus the state is basically poor/broke. What if LA took lemons and made lemonaide? Started to look at $$ opportunities in the environment and go down "that" road, actually educate the kids and offer hope. Attract businesses and have people like Frank Stonach be "the example" and the trend and not the exception. What if LA became the example of how small communities should be ..could be. With all the chemicals in our food, are we really surprised it's not that much "food" and why 1 in 5 are getting cancer whereas 100 years ago it was 1 in maybe 200? There's a lot of material here with the ignorance/racism, the environment, education,$$$ to again, be the focal point to the rest of the country and the world as there are conflicts (as we know) everywhere. How many of you donate 8 hours per week to your community, give money of each month to one or more charities (look at kiva.org ), are involved in your community meetings and eat from your local organic farmers? We all can learn from this model.. and even how a disaster like Katrina, as horrible as it was and is still for many Americans, can be a turning point for so many, for the better.

I just saw a report on Canadaville. I am truly upset. A resident said that that community flying a Canadian flag was a "bone of contention, How would Canadians like it, if we put up an American flag, I don't think they would" WHAT??? I see American and Canadian flags flying side by side all the time up here!! And another thing, You would think that a community that backwards, would appreciate that someone was trying to help victims. They were building a community center-- I don't think that the community center is just for evacuees, it would be a center for everyone. Also the towns people were offended by the size of the community/evacuation center, I am sure that IF a natural disaster was to hit that area (pray it doesn't) but if it did -- those same towns people that were against building it, would be the first damn people in line to be saved from said natural disaster. I am truly disgusted by the human nature down there. What happened to "DO unto others as you would have them do unto you" or brotherly love in Jesus. I become very discouraged about my fellow human beings sometimes. It makes me offended and disgusted with the town of Simmesport. There are no races in the eyes of Jesus Christ. Love your neighbour.

I cannot believe that this racism still exists in USA...yes, I am white!

I just watched this program again. I still cannot believe the stupidity and ignorance of those allowed to speak on television. Do they not realize we are now living in 2009? It is a shame to see that there are still white people that think they own the world. That poor little girl being raised by her backwards father. He thinks it is only "black" people that where their pants at their knees?? Come to my town in Southwestern Ontario and you will see you are sadly mistaken. I would rather live surrounded by the Canadatown people than the likes of the white people in Simmesport. They scare me and they should scare alot of people!!!!!! God Bless All of them.

To the good people of Simmesport, Don't be fooled by those bering gifts. We allowed this type of multiculturalism in Canada thanks to Frank Stronach's good friend Pierre Trudeau and now we can not get the genie back into the bag. Over run with all sorts of immigrants from every poor nation on earth. Did nothing but dumb down everything from our national police force to the military, to education systems and on and on. Hold your ground Boo.