election 2012 - The Trawler.org
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WENTE: “Election Envy? Canada’s the Lucky Country” (Globe and Mail, CA)
224 days ago by Adam.KingsmithAt the apex of the election race, controversial Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente argues that Canada has no need to be envious of all the election fever south of the border. Of the fact that while Americans were busy electing one of the trendiest presidents since JFK, Canadians had just elected one of our most uncharismatic leaders ever. According to Wente, “Canada’s the lucky country.”
Why you ask? “Canada has held its own while you’ve [America] gone downhill,’ said Wente. “The United States is flat broke, and so are California, New York and Illinois. Your unemployment rate is higher, your inequality is greater and you have 46 million people on food stamps.” Plus you might get another Republican in office.
In the event that the Romney-Ryan 2012 disaster scenario that many centric Americans are dreading somehow comes into fruition, Wente assures Americans that they “would be more than welcome” in Canada. Her assimilation tips for helping disgruntled Americans fleeing to Canada include first and foremost, learning the delicate tinges of out political system. A system where “blue” politicians are “red” by American standards, and Conservatives support universal healthcare, promise to cut military spending, and gay marriage flourishes.
It was not always this great up here, reminisces Wente. Canada uses to be drenched in debt, constitutional crises, and realistic threats of separatism. But the tables have turned. Canada has less debt and corporate taxes, makes things that China wants to buy, and has an immigration policy that attracts skilled workers.
According to Wente, Canada’s got it good, and our most serious conflict is the rivalry between Tim Hortons and Starbucks for your coffee expenditures. So she will watch the election drama with a shred of envy for the excitement, but to Wente, Canada’s cold dullness is a welcomed beacon of stability in these difficult times.
Wente makes some interesting points that may put into perspective the relative stability that Canada’s should be thankful for when enviously looking at the excitement down south. However, for Wente to argue that our greatest conflict is a cultural coffee war, when the country is facing increasing disparity gaps, pockets of civil unrest, and a government that seems to follow its own agenda in the face of fragmented opposition parties, serves to make her seem like just another conservative pundit who is unaware of the realities facing is the majority of Canadians today. Also, she seems to have a certain propensity for plagiarism.
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HAMILTON: “The Identity Politics of Pauline Marois’ Parti Québécois” (National Post, CA)
286 days ago by Adam.KingsmithNow that some of the dust has settled on Election Day Quebec 2012, perhaps it is time to dig into the identity politics of the newly elected Parti Québécois (PQ) and their leader, Pauline Marois. For such a task, we turn to The National Post’s Quebec correspondent Graeme Hamilton, who has covered the ‘la belle province’ for over a decade, and began his career writing for the Montreal Gazette.
The PQ has come along way since Quebec Immigration Minister Gérald Godin insisted (under the 1980s premiership of René Lévesque), “we have to form with cultural communities a new world, a model society, better, free, open and welcoming…for cultural diversity is the guarantee of a nation’s enrichment and open-mindedness”. Indeed, Marois’ PQ sees things a little differently.
Quebec’s new minority government has promised to prohibit public-sector workers from wearing any religious symbols (unless of course they are Catholic ones), force immigrants to pass a French test before they can run for public office, submit a petition to legislators, or make political donations, and block new arrivals and their children from attending English post-secondary colleges. In short, when Marois declares her openness to immigrants, there is always a significant “but” that follows. Her justification? “We insist on conserving out identity, our language, our institutions and our values,” values which she says “are non-negotiable. We do not have to apologize for who we are.”
Many of Marois’ hardline points reveal an interesting trend says Hamilton, “what has traditionally been a party of the left, attracting voters as much for its social-democratic program as its independence project, has veered sharply to the right on the question of Quebec identity”. Pierre Bosset, lifetime PQ supporter and Law Professor at Université du Québec à Montréal said that the party radicalized after finishing third in the 2007 election, embracing an “ugly strain of Quebec nationalism” that he and others in his circle of “liberal intellectuals of the left” do not share. Furthermore, Bosset fears that the PQ platform will strain inter-cultural relations with “the message it sends that it is acceptable to discriminate against new arrivals in Quebec”.
“For example if the [secularism] charter is passed and public servants do not have the right to wear religious symbols, it will be seen as acceptable in broader society to discriminate against people wearing a hijab or a turban.”
Daniel Weinstock, a law professor at McGill University adds that while the PQ proposals are not in the same league as the discourse of far-right parties in Europe, who simply tell immigrants they do not belong, they still send a troubling message. He continues to say, “The other way of being bad to immigrants is to say you have no place here unless you play by a very tightly scripted playbook, and here it is…. The [PQ] policies are intolerant, but they’re not racist.”
It is important to note however, that while Hamilton’s survey of Marois’ identity politics does highlight some very important potential policy stances bordering on racism and xenophobia, neither the PQ, or Hamilton himself bother to address the issue of native rights, which play a huge part in the full picture of identity politics in Quebec. For more information on the view of the First Nations’ in Quebec, take a look at the official policies of the Native Alliance of Quebec.
Final Note: Notice the lack of visible minorities in this picture taken on September 3, the day before Election Day. This was the case for every single campaigning and celebratory picture of Marois and the other PQ candidates I came across.
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BROOKS: “How Change Happens” (New York Times, US)
392 days ago by Brendan PastorWith all the attention now turning to Mitt Romney’s leadership at Bain Capital, media columnists have been quick to either support or debunk the attacks being made by President Obama. David Brooks presents his case.
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MILBANK: “Obama Comes Out in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage” (Washington Post, US)
404 days ago by Brendan PastorThe big news in the media-sphere is Obama’s recent announcement that he personally supports same-sex marriage rights for gay couples. Dana Milbank offers his fairly impartial perspective, peppered with a bit of characteristic humour.
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COHEN: “Mitt Romney, a Man of Falsehoods” (Washington Post, US)
428 days ago by Brendan PastorRichard Cohen makes no hints in his aggressive tone throughout this article. He argues, with a touch of his usual humour, that Mitt Romney is a fantastic liar, and that alone makes him a formidable opponent.
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EGAN: “Tax Face-Off: Romney vs. Me” (New York Times, US)
432 days ago by Brendan PastorWith characteristic prose and an unparalleled centrism, Timothy Egan delivers another “Middle-America man’s” critical look at the difference between most Americans and the GOP nominee, Mitt Romney.
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DIONNE: “Romney’s in a Box — of Santorum’s Making” (Washington Post, US)
433 days ago by Brendan PastorWith Santorum dropping out of the race, the pundits and editorials are abuzz with opinion. EJ Dionne presents his take on how he successfully boxed Mitt Romney, the new presumed candidate, into a difficult space.
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