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by Harvey Oberfeld
October the 9th, 2015
It really is awful … but almost no one has the guts to call out ALL the “leaders” of the three major political parties for their “divide and conquer” ethnic and racist pandering during the federal election.
Thursday Harper held another one of those “ethnic” invitation-only media events, where admission was RESTRICTED to only a few specifically approved ethnic media.
The Tyee has described what happened: HERE
This, in my view, is TOTALLY unacceptable: the PM or any political leader can attend any private meetings with any group they want on any topic: BUT when it is open to the media, ALL accredited media should be allowed to attend … not just those who go through a “selection” process and pass muster or are rejected based on race or ethnicity.
And this is not the first time, the PM … who should be expected to treat ALL Canadians equally … has held events that have clearly discriminated against whole groups of Canadians … based on race and ethnicity.
It’s awful: not only for those EXCLUDED, but when you think of it, even for those INCLUDED.
Those who are of the “right” race or ethnicity to make it onto the invitation list may feel privileged, but in reality, they should be DISGUSTED that THEY are being singled out and pandered to TOTALLY because of their race etc. …. and are clearly NOT viewed by Harper/Tories as true equals among the Canadian family.
I wrote about this previously on this blog: HERE
And I’m happy to tell you I have heard from a number of journalists from BC’s Asian media who actually feel embarrassed at having their media being singled out this way: they would much rather NOT be patronize, but be regarded instead as true equals with ALL other media.
But they attend because their bosses send them … and that’s where the REAL problem lies: with ethnic media top brass who hate and campaign against discrimination when it is directed at THEIR people, but are clearly happy to go along with it when they BENEFIT from it.
Disgraceful!
And it’s not just in BC where this has been happening. in Winnipeg two weeks ago, the Tories also practiced ethnic cleansing, inviting only certain ethnic media to a carefully-controlled session with the PM there. The CBC reported on the event, from the outside: HERE
And again, the ethnic media who often decry discrimination AGAINST their people were quite happy to GO ALONG with the Tory’s segregated session.
Again, disgraceful!
After all, every one of us holding Canadian citizenship should be treated as EQUALS … without regards to race, colour, religion or ethnicity.
We are all part of the CANADIAN family!
Harper is WRONG!
Right?
Well, Mulcair and Trudeau are just as GUILTY.
Both of them during the current election campaign have segregated Canada’s aboriginals out as not really being Canadian … even though they ALL hold Canadian citizenship, Canadian passports and are being urged to get out and vote in the federal election.
But pander, pander, pander: BOTH Trudeau and Mulcair have pledged if elected, to negotiate with our aboriginals “nation to nation”.
Huh?
I’ve always regarded our native population as an IMPORTANT part of the “Canadian” nation … the first arrivals here, with grievances and land claims to be sure, but they, like others, are part of the same CANADIAN nation as the rest of is … carrying the same citizenship and passports and voting rights as the rest of us.
They are NOT a separate “nation” or 100 separate “nations” in our midst … any more than we have Chinese, Italian, Muslim or Jewish “nations” here. We are ALL part of one Canadian family … and our politicians should NOT try to tell any of us …including aboriginal citizens … that they are not.
But gaining votes are apparently more important to Mulcair and Trudeau than principles: so they push the separate “nation” platitudes when addressing potential aboriginal voters … pander, pander, pander.
The only leader/party that has stayed out of the gutter and at least tried to focus on the issues are the Greens/Elizabeth May.
I have already exposed that attempt to segregate and divide in an earlier blog: HERE
And this is EXACTLY how an election, that SHOULD focus on the IMPORTANT issues of the economy, energy issues, the widening economic gap and the environment gets hijacked over such minor, but nerve-striking nonsense, like the niqab.
Because ALL three major parties and their LEADERS are willing to divide and conquer Canadians on ethnic and racial grounds … in the hope they can gain a few more votes by doing so.
