October 4458General Blanchard announces Canrillaise Immigration SchemeNoumonde's Prime Minister, General Remy Blanchard, today unveiled his
Programme d'Immigration Canrillaise (Canrillaise Immigration Scheme), designed to encourage Canrillaise (OOC: French) immigration into Noumonde, particularly from the main Canrillaise nations, Alduria, Kanjor, Lourene and Rildanor.
Under the scheme, Canrillaise from overseas will be encouraged to immigrate to Noumonde with offers of public sector jobs, bargain mortgages, cheap loans and cheap land. Most controversially, much of the land that is now being offered for cheap prices to Canrillaise immigrants was originally intended for reallocation to landless Malgy (OOC: Madagascan) under the
land redistribution scheme, which has now been wound up.
Political experts believe this move is designed to help the regime in two ways. Firstly, by helping to shore up the Canrillaise position in Noumonde by increasing the Canrillaise population. Secondly, it is hoped the new scheme will increase Noumonde's popularity in the Canrillaise world community, and therefore make it more politically difficult for Canrillaise governments to oppose Noumonde's regime too strongly. Professor Marie-Louise Bernier, a Noumon political scientist now living in Alduria, has commented:
It could be that General Blanchard has pulled off a political masterstroke with this. What you have to bear in mind is that this will have a direct impact on a lot of people in the Big Four Canrillaise countries. There will be people who want to take up these opportunities to go to Noumonde, or at least are thinking of taking up these opportunities in the future. Or even if they are not interested themselves, they will probably know someone - a family member, maybe - who wants to take up the scheme, or is considering taking up the scheme.
This is surely going to have an impact on the politicians, because they will not want to upset these voters. But will it have a decisive impact on the politicians? Would it be enough to persuade them not to impose sanctions on Noumonde, or even not to engage in actual military action? Who knows? It all depends on whether they have the political will to do whatever it is they believe they ought to do.
General Blanchard sends dwarf wrestlers on goodwill tour of Canrillaise nationsIn another move designed to bolster his support in the Canrillaise world, the General has paid the
Fédération de Lutte Naine (Dwarf Wrestling Federation) to embark on a "goodwill tour" of Alduria, Kanjor, Lourenne and Rildanor. The dwarf wrestlers will be putting on free wrestling shows and appearing at publicity events whilst acting as "ambassadors of the Noumon people, their King and their legitimate government".
General Blanchard is known to be a big personal fan of dwarf wrestling, and he hopes the novelty and spectacle of the performances will wow the international Canrillaise public and give them a more favourable impression of his country and his regime.