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

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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.

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