Opinions

 

 

Where is the Canadian Obama?

By J.J. McCullough,

‘Fie National Post’s Barbara Kay
made an interesting observation in her
paper’s editorial page last week. In a
column, entitled “Green with envy over
America’s black messiah” she rather
bemusedly noted the not-too-subtle
undertones of jealously that seem to
characterize Canada’s
liberal punditry in
their coverage of the
presidential aspirations
of © Senator Barack
Obama.

© OS apie
senses comparative
frustration. They beat
us to it! Canadians ‘R

“The United
States is far
closer to
electing a

 

Washington in the list of states that have
elected a non-white to their top office.

’ Are there Canadian equivalents
to any of these success stories? The
closest match might be Ujjal Dosanjh, a

‘man who in 1999 was briefly installed as

Premier of BC in the dying days of the
NDP regime, only to subsequently lead
his: party to its worst
electoral disaster in
provincial history. No
Canadian province has
ever willingly elected
a minority to power,
and certainly you’d be
hard-pressed to think
of a non-white: federal
cabinet minister who

diversity!” she writes, has ever held a position
noting that while b lack head of of serious influence on
Canadians “talk the par with that of a Condi
talk” of multicultural g overnme nt Rice or Colin Powell.
tolerance, “those Women political
— —— than "hy anada — = the we
seem to be walking the ave likewise en
e e
walk.” & Wi l l li ke ly be enormously more
And it’s true, successful than their
of course. The United contemporaries in

States is far closer to
electing a black head
of government than
Canada will likely be anytime soon. But
they have a longer tradition of placing
minorities in positions of power anyway,
so this is hardly surprising. The foreign
minister of the United States is a black
woman, for instance, and her predecessor
was the son of Jamaican immigrants.
Virtually every other cabinet position has
had a black or other minority occupant at
one time or another, as well.

Just last week the state of
Louisiana likewise swore-in America’s
first ever Indo-American governor, just
as the state of Massachusetts had sworn
in their first African-American a year
earlier. The two now join Virginia and

8

anytime soon.”

Canada. Along with
Ms. Clinton, who may
well be the nation’s
next Democratic president, the party’s
current legislative leader, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also female.
Canada’s Liberal Party has never had a
female leader, by contrast, and the late
Progressive Conservative Party’s only
experiment with the practice resulted
in the disastrously unsuccessful Kim
Campbell, a woman who succeeded to
the prime ministership for a couple of
months only to be promptly tossed out of
office, Dosanjh-like, in Canada’s biggest
electoral landslide.

While only two provinces have
ever had female premiers (one of whom
served a measly eight months in office,

while the other governed
irrelevant Prince Edward
Island) a full 29 of the
American states (nearly
60%) have had female
governors at one time or
another, including eight
incumbents.

Canada and the United
States are countries
which possesses basically
identical values as far as
things like gender and
race are concerned, yet
it’s hard to miss the two
sharply divergent track

records of transferring
public tolerance. into
political success. The

fact remains that despite
much official blathering
to the contrary, Canada

is in possession of
remarkably few
genuinely inspirational stories of

politicians who’ve been able. to boldly
break through the race barrier or glass
ceiling. When women and minorities

do achieve offices of any significance
in this country they are almost always
politically- powerless, appointed jobs,
such as a lieutenant governorship or a
Senate seat. Posts that create a symbolic
veneer of a truly progressive society
through affirmative action, in other
words, yet ultimately remain little more
than a thin flaky crust to disguise the
fact that our nation’s ruling elite remains
overwhelmingly white, male, and old.

Canada’s racist
or sexist country by any stretch of the
imagination, but we are governed by
political institutions which are very
difficult for outsiders of any sort of break
into. Perhaps if Canada had an open
primary system like the US, it might be
possible for a young charismatic black
man or a woman to aspire to the highest
office in the land- and hold a serious
chance of actually achieving it. Until
then, however, Canadian liberals will
have no choice but to bite their tongues
and continue to look across the border
with longing eyes.

not a more

 

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