[BLOG-LIKE POSTING] Obama and Canada
Nov. 4th, 2008 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldStephen Collinson's article in the Melbourne Herald-Sun was the first article that appeared in Google News when I Googled the terms electoral college.
One thing of noteVisible minorities make up 16% of the Canadian population versus one-third of the American population. Obama's success has led, naturally enough, to speculate about the prospects for similar successes among Canadian ethnoracial minorities, as in this self-congratulatory article from the Canadian Press.
I called this article self-congratulatory because--for instance--the writer mentions former British Columbia Premier Ujjah Dosanjh but fails to mention that he's the only Canadian First Minister who belongs to a visible minority. I'd go so far as to argue that it overlooks the very nasty historical pattern of racism directed against members of visible minorities in Canada, whcih include anti-semitic riots, segregation regimes directed against African-Canadians, residential schools that sought to save the Indian person by beating out the savage, and eugenics policies--including sterilization--directed against (among other groups) Ukrainian-Canadians and even excessively fecund French Canadians.
Is Canada ahead of the United States? Id argue that we're at par, at best, or quite possibly in behind. As I wrote back on the Fourth, the United States is in many ways a revolutionary society that can serve as a positive role model for the entire world. May Obaam's example stir all Canadians.
DEMOCRAT Barack Obama has taken huge strides towards becoming the first black US president, with TV networks projecting he will win the crucial battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Senator Obama's projected win in Ohio is a heavy blow for his Republican rival John McCain. No candidate has won the White House without taking Ohio since 1960. And no Republican has ever won the presidency without it.
The traditionally Republican state ravaged by the decline of heavy industry leaned Democratic today after narrowly voting at the last election in favour of George W Bush four years ago, TV networks projected. Ohio has 20 electoral college votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency.
TV network projections also gave Pennsylvania to Senator Obama on a night of high drama after millions of people cast their votes in an election expected to reshape US politics. Pennsylvania represented Senator McCain's best hope of capturing a state that was won by the Democrats in 2004, the central plank of his strategy given that polls show he will likely lose some of Republican states won by President Bush in that election.
The Pennsylvania and Ohio calls left Senator Obama with a projected 195 electoral votes, putting the Democratic camp well on its way to the 270 votes needed to clinch the White House.
Media networks have projected wins for Senator Obama in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, Washington DC, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Mexico.
Senator McCain was given Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas.
One thing of noteVisible minorities make up 16% of the Canadian population versus one-third of the American population. Obama's success has led, naturally enough, to speculate about the prospects for similar successes among Canadian ethnoracial minorities, as in this self-congratulatory article from the Canadian Press.
The office of the governor general, the Queen's representative in Canada and the country's highest-ranking figurehead, has been occupied by two visible minorities - Adrienne Clarkson and current successor Michaelle Jean.
Canada's already seen a female prime minister, albeit briefly - Kim Campbell in 1993 - but no visible minority has ever held the keys to 24 Sussex.
Other milestones include former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh as the first Indo-Canadian to become premier, as well as a host of MPs of myriad ethnic backgrounds, including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, African-American and Lebanese.
[. . .]
Still, Canada's road to more equitable representation is "a work in progress," said Jean Augustine, Canada's first black female MP.
As a former cabinet minister responsible for multiculturalism and the status of women, Augustine recalled that when she travelled internationally, she became both "the messenger and the message."
Yet in her eyes, political parties should be doing still more to foster multiculturalism in Canadian government.
"When you look at the shakers and the movers, I don't see the impetus to ensure that individuals come into the party and make their way up and have the support of the party to ensure they have an individual from a diverse background."
Conservative MP Jason Kenney has been aggressively recruiting minority candidates for the last two elections in a effort to chip away at the advantage long held by the rival Liberals to win the lasting support of immigrants.
No single ethnic group in Canada makes up a coveted block of voters like African-Americans or Hispanics do in the U.S., which means no one group of Canadians has the same ability to move a candidate through the ranks.
I called this article self-congratulatory because--for instance--the writer mentions former British Columbia Premier Ujjah Dosanjh but fails to mention that he's the only Canadian First Minister who belongs to a visible minority. I'd go so far as to argue that it overlooks the very nasty historical pattern of racism directed against members of visible minorities in Canada, whcih include anti-semitic riots, segregation regimes directed against African-Canadians, residential schools that sought to save the Indian person by beating out the savage, and eugenics policies--including sterilization--directed against (among other groups) Ukrainian-Canadians and even excessively fecund French Canadians.
Is Canada ahead of the United States? Id argue that we're at par, at best, or quite possibly in behind. As I wrote back on the Fourth, the United States is in many ways a revolutionary society that can serve as a positive role model for the entire world. May Obaam's example stir all Canadians.
