[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Valmy]

Without fresh blood constantly coming in from abroad I question the possibility of a country truly having multiple cultures over centuries living side-by-side. They cannot help but influence and be changed by each other's presence and over time form something distinct from what they used to be. Unless the country will truly just be groups of separate enclaves cooperating but not really living with each other. But we will see.

[crazy canuck]

@ Malthus, sure, but Bernier is claiming something else.  He is claiming that diversity leads to a rejection of tolerance.  Irony aside, this must be driving Scheer crazy.  There is much one could criticize about this government's immigration and refugee policies but this is an attack on diversity itself - something the Conservatives wish to avoid - which their response makes clear.

[crazy canuck]

A follow up on the TWU decision - TWU has decided to remove the mandatory nature of the covenant

The motion is as follows:

"In furtherance of our desire to maintain TWU as a thriving community of Christian believers that is inclusive of all students wishing to learn from a Christian viewpoint and underlying philosophy, the Community Covenant will no longer be mandatory as of the 2018-19 Academic year with respect to admission of students to, or continuation of students at, the University."

[Malthus]

A follow up on the TWU decision - TWU has decided to remove the mandatory nature of the covenant

The motion is as follows:

"In furtherance of our desire to maintain TWU as a thriving community of Christian believers that is inclusive of all students wishing to learn from a Christian viewpoint and underlying philosophy, the Community Covenant will no longer be mandatory as of the 2018-19 Academic year with respect to admission of students to, or continuation of students at, the University."

Presumably, they plan to re-apply for certification?

[crazy canuck]

Its only reason they would do this and it effectively removes the legal objection.  Now we will see how much of the opposition was motivated by the fact it is a religious school.

[crazy canuck]

I see no issue whatsoever with Bernier's tweets.

From a CBC report:

Maxime Bernier received an official rebuke from his boss, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, and a broadside from a Pakistani-Canadian Conservative senator today as the party moved to distance itself from the former leadership contender's opinions on multiculturalism on the eve of its national convention.

[dps]

Without fresh blood constantly coming in from abroad I question the possibility of a country truly having multiple cultures over centuries living side-by-side. They cannot help but influence and be changed by each other's presence and over time form something distinct from what they used to be.

The French and Anglo cultures have both existed in Canada for over 3 centuries now.  Are they unchanged over that time?  Of course not, but the French culture in France and the English culture in England have changed over that time as well.

French culture in Canada has probably changed more in the last 60 or so years than it had in the 300 years before that, but I don't think that necessarily means that it has become more like Anglo-Canadian culture in the last 60.

[Monoriu]

When I was an immigrant in Canada, I struggled to understand what multiculturalism was.  I heard this term all the time, but didn't really understand what it was. 

I am still confused 

[Valmy]

Without fresh blood constantly coming in from abroad I question the possibility of a country truly having multiple cultures over centuries living side-by-side. They cannot help but influence and be changed by each other's presence and over time form something distinct from what they used to be.

The French and Anglo cultures have both existed in Canada for over 3 centuries now.  Are they unchanged over that time?  Of course not, but the French culture in France and the English culture in England have changed over that time as well.

French culture in Canada has probably changed more in the last 60 or so years than it had in the 300 years before that, but I don't think that necessarily means that it has become more like Anglo-Canadian culture in the last 60.

I don't know if it is necessarily so but I think it has become so.

[Malthus]

When I was an immigrant in Canada, I struggled to understand what multiculturalism was.  I heard this term all the time, but didn't really understand what it was. 

I am still confused 

It has various meanings depending on context.

The most common one is the notion that no particular culture should be seen as central or favored; that all cultures are equally worthy of legal or official regard, with the caveat that whatever the culture all individuals must maintain respect for the rule of law (which, insofar as reasonable, will "accommodate" cultural and religious differences).

There are obvious problems and contradictions (for example, the notion of the rule of law, as well as the content of those laws, has a particular cultural origin; in addition, in Canada at least, multiculturalism competes as a concept with the older notion that Canada has certain 'founding cultures' - originally stated as being English and French, later expanded as being Native Canadian, English and French - and to a great extent, this older notion is deeply imbedded in our laws). 

This leads to many conflicts within Canada. For example, Toronto in particular (as well as other places in Canada, such as Vancouver) is a highly "multicultural" city, with a population from everywhere on the globe. The Native Canadian and French populations of Toronto are tiny in proportion. Montreal is also a multicultural city, but Quebec as a whole is very wedded to the older notion of the ancestral French culture being given official priority; Quebec as a whole tends to have very ambivalent feelings towards official multiculturalism, seeing it as just another way that "English Canada" undermines their culture.

This Conservative fellow is bringing up yet another critique of multiculturalism - that it leads to a ghettoized mentality and ethnic strife. This critique has less traction here, as many (I would venture to say the majority) of the Canadian population already lives in urban, multicultural communities, without experiencing an increase in strife. It isn't surprising to see that this particular Conservative politician is from Quebec.   

[Zoupa]

 

Get in your digs whenever you can right? Never change, Malthus.

[Malthus]

Get in your digs whenever you can right? Never change, Malthus.

It is interesting you see that as a "dig". It was not intended to be.

[crazy canuck]

 It is a bit misleading to imply Bermier's views are most supported in Quebec.  During the Conservative leadership race his supporters were primarily amongst the BBs of the West.  There is a reason he was called the Albertan of Quebec.

[derspiess]

Get in your digs whenever you can right? Never change, Malthus.

It is interesting you see that as a "dig". It was not intended to be.

It was flat-out SAVAGE

[Malthus]

It is a bit misleading to imply Bermier's views are most supported in Quebec.  During the Conservative leadership race his supporters were primarily amongst the BBs of the West.  There is a reason he was called the Albertan of Quebec.

I never implied his views were supported in Quebec. I have no idea who supports him, or where they are from.

Rather, I outright stated that it wasn't surprising he was from Quebec. The implication is that his views were formed based on where he was from, as ambivalence towards multiculturalism is much more common in Quebec than in the other major provinces ... with the possible exception of Alberta.

I mean, is it even a controversial point that Quebec as a whole is more ambivalent about multiculturalism?