Archive for July 2018
I’ve (finally) finished reading the book; Could It Happen Here? Canada in the Age of Trump and BREXIT by Michael Adams. I enjoyed it, and I learned about some of the differences between Canada and the U.S.A. from reading the statistics and the commentary within it.
The title raises an interesting question, that I heard Michael Adams address in an interview with Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star. “What do you mean by “It?”. In the book, Adams doesn’t directly answer the question, but there is plenty of evidence that he believes the answer is “NO!”.
I say that because Adams writes about Kellie Leitch at both the beginning and the conclusion to this book. In the concluding chapter he wrote:
“Throughout the Conservative leadership campaign, polls consistently showed support for Kelly Leitch’s notion of a Canadian values test, a signal that there are political dividends to harvest by appealing to the more fearful angels of our nature. That she was also ridiculed and ultimately unsuccessful revealed something about the location of the boundaries of acceptable political discourse in Canada and offers a precise answer to the question of whether “it” could happen here.”[1]
HOWEVER;
During the second of three leaders debates during the Ontario 2018 election campaign, the three political party leaders ( Liberal, NDP and Progressive Conservative ) were asked whether they would support a program to bring new immigrants to northern Ontario to fill job vacancies. Doug Ford, now Premier of Ontario, responded:
““I’d be more than happy to sit down and talk to the folks and look at a pilot project. But number one, I’m a pretty generous guy — I’m taking care of our own first. Once we take care of our own, once we exhaust every single avenue and don’t have anyone that can fill a job, then I’d be open to that.[2]”
Since his election, Premier Ford has withdrawn financial support for asylum seekers who come to Ontario.[3]
All through the book Adams compares and contrasts the U.S.A. and Canada as societies. His analysis of socio-economic data; polling, and academic papers provides plenty of detail on the similarities and differences of our two countries. One of the key differences between the neighbouring countries though lies in the responses to a simple question: “Must the father of the family be the master in his own house?[4]”
From 1992 to 2016 the “YES” responses in the U.S.A. have gone from 42 per cent of those polled to 50 per cent. The figure is 69 per cent in the “deep south”, and lowest in New England (42%). In Canada during the same time period the “YES” response has declined from 25 per cent to 23 per cent (reaching a low of 18% in the year 2000). In Canada the highest is 26 per cent in Alberta and the lowest is 19 per cent in Atlantic Canada.
Another important difference is in response to a question about the style of decision making that politicians have. 54 per cent of Americans like elected officials who “stick to their positions”, while only 38 per cent of Canadians do. Similarly, 58 per cent of Canadians like elected officials who “make compromises with people they disagree with”, versus 40 per cent of Americans.[5]
Could “it” happen here? I think that “it” already has.
The new government in Ontario seems to be dedicated to the kind of “shock and awe” program that Naomi Klein described in her book, The Shock Doctrine”.[6]Someof their decisions in the first few days of being “in power” are outlined below:
President Trump Premier Ford
Environment
Withdrew from the Paris Withdrew from the “Cap
Paris Accord and Trade” program with
California and Quebec
Cancelled 758 “green” energy
Projects
Mandate
Drain the swamp Clean up the “mess”
Immigration
Build the wall Ceased support for asylum
Send migrants home seekers – “a federal matter”
Social conservativism
Withdrew from United Nations Cancelled new sex ed curric.
progr. on breast feeding Not at 2018 Pride parade
Role of science[7]
Office of the President’s Fired Chief Scientist in ON
Science Advisor is still vacant
Of course, there’s populism and other topics that could be dealt with in this note, and both Ford and Trump have an ego that needs to be massaged.
Could it happen here?
I think that “It” has already happened here in Ontario.
[1]Could It Happen Here, page 152
[2]https://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/doug-fords-odd-take-on-immigration-in-the-north
[3]https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2018/07/16/ottawa-says-it-will-support-toronto-with-asylum-seekers-notwithstanding-snub-by-doug-ford.html
[4]Could It Happen Here, page 146
[5]Could It Happen Here, page 151.
[6]Naomi Klein has continued her analysis in a new book, “The Battle for Paradise”; a story of what happened after Hurricanes Irma and Maria passed through Puerto Rico.
[7]Just like in the days of the “Harper Government” in Ottawa, who needs unbiased, scientific evidence when we have ideology, eh?
Over 250 clergy and United Church of Canada staff personnel have endorsed a letter to the new Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford. In the letter, the premier is requested to reconsider his stances on refugees, supervised drug injection sites, and the province’s sex-ed curriculum.
Ontario United Church ministers behind a letter to Premier Doug Ford are inviting people to share these graphics. (Credit: OntarioUCCMinisters.org)
In Ontario there’s plenty of controversy over the unilateral decision of the Doug Ford government to revert to the 1998 educational curriculum.
A well-respected minister in the United Church of Canada, Rev. Dr. Cheri DeNovo has written a column in The Observer on this action. The column speaks of the rights of those who are marginalized, and of Christian love and respect for our neighbours. Part of what Rev. DiNovo writes is as follows:
“Soon, I will be hand-delivering a letter to Premier Doug Ford or Deputy Premier Christine Elliott, a woman I admire and consider a friend, signed by dozens of United Church clergy, asking the premier to exercise compassion and justice on a number of issues, one of them being to protect our children by informing and educating them so that they can protect themselves.“
allanbaker 