{"id":1089,"date":"2008-03-24T21:30:46","date_gmt":"2008-03-25T01:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2018-08-14T19:00:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T23:00:48","slug":"monday-march-24-2008-what-alika-lafontaine-tells-us-about-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1089","title":{"rendered":"Monday, March 24, 2008 \u2014 What Alika Lafontaine Tells Us About Ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is an inter\u00adest\u00ading tele\u00advi\u00adsion con\u00adtest here in Cana\u00adda. It\u2019s called Canada\u2019s Next Great Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter. Peo\u00adple between the ages of 18 and 25 are asked to sub\u00admit a five-minute Youtube pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion in which they address one cur\u00adrent polit\u00adi\u00adcal issue. Ten final\u00adists are cho\u00adsen, and brought to a \u201cpolit\u00adi\u00adcal boot camp\u201d. From these, four are select\u00aded to be vot\u00aded on by the audi\u00adence. They not only present their views, but are sub\u00adject\u00aded to an intense grilling from a pan\u00adel of three for\u00admer Cana\u00addi\u00adan Prime Min\u00adis\u00adters and one Provin\u00adcial Pre\u00admier (yes, in Cana\u00adda, Prime Min\u00adis\u00adters appear on game shows, and even on com\u00ade\u00addy skit shows). There is a $50,000 prize.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show was on last night, with four final\u00adists. These includ\u00aded Pam Hrick, an Ottawa Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty stu\u00addent politi\u00adcian, in sec\u00adond place; Rahim Moloo, a lawyer from Cal\u00adgary, Alber\u00adta in third place; and Kevin Roy\u00adal, a busi\u00adness school grad\u00adu\u00adate from Water\u00adloo, Ontario, in fourth. Pam Hrick held the lead in bal\u00adlot\u00ading until she was dis\u00adplaced by the audience\u2019s response to the final speech\u00ades. The win\u00adner was Ali\u00adka Lafontaine, a 25-year-old M\u00e9tis physi\u00adcian from Saskatchewan.<\/span><\/p>\n

It tells some\u00adthing of the seri\u00adous\u00adness with which this was approached that one of the Judges, for\u00admer Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Paul Mar\u00adtin, grew vis\u00adi\u00adbly angry when Lafontaine answered \u201cyes\u201d to the ques\u00adtion of whether he would accede to a ref\u00ader\u00aden\u00addum for Que\u00adbec sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion that won by a major\u00adi\u00adty of only 900 votes (pre\u00adsum\u00ading numer\u00adous recounts). Lafontaine was flus\u00adtered, but he stuck to his guns. But what is most remark\u00adable is that Lafontaine had cho\u00adsen for his focus, not the pre\u00addictable eco\u00adnom\u00adic nos\u00adtrums that the oth\u00aders had cho\u00adsen, but abo\u00adrig\u00adi\u00adnal rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion and jus\u00adtice issues. It hint\u00aded at some\u00adthing which I have always sus\u00adpect\u00aded, which is that Cana\u00addi\u00adans, when push comes to shove, care most about fair\u00adness and jus\u00adtice. They care about bread-and- but\u00adter issues, too, of course. But a per\u00adceived chron\u00adic injus\u00adtice both\u00aders them, nags at their con\u00adscious, and will make itself felt in polit\u00adi\u00adcal decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show clear\u00adly demon\u00adstrat\u00aded some spe\u00adcif\u00adic char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtics of Cana\u00addi\u00adan pol\u00adi\u00adtics that I\u2019ve long been aware of. When we step into a vot\u00ading booth, we have lit\u00adtle inter\u00adest in the fol\u00adlow\u00ading sub\u00adjects: 1) race, 2) gen\u00adder, 3) reli\u00adgion, 4) sex\u00adu\u00adal\u00adi\u00adty. They just don\u2019t come up as top\u00adics in Cana\u00addi\u00adan polit\u00adi\u00adcal debates, and nobody seems inter\u00adest\u00aded in them in any polit\u00adi\u00adcal con\u00adtext. I have nev\u00ader met any Cana\u00addi\u00adan who vot\u00aded for a can\u00addi\u00addate on the basis of the candidate\u2019s reli\u00adgious beliefs, and few Cana\u00addi\u00adans have any idea of what reli\u00adgious denom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtions their elect\u00aded offi\u00adcials belong to. Gen\u00adder is a non-issue. Sex doesn\u2019t enter the pic\u00adture. Open\u00adly gay can\u00addi\u00addates don\u2019t seem to have any trou\u00adble get\u00adting elect\u00aded. Unlike in the U.K. or the Unit\u00aded States, I can\u2019t think of any \u201csex scan\u00addals\u201d in Cana\u00addi\u00adan Pol\u00adi\u00adtics. We sim\u00adply don\u2019t care about the sex lives of our politi\u00adcians, if they have any. It\u2019s just some\u00adthing we nev\u00ader think about. Race, the big buga\u00adboo south of the bor\u00adder, doesn\u2019t enter the polit\u00adi\u00adcal cal\u00adcu\u00adlus. Have you ever heard any\u00adone in the Cana\u00addi\u00adan media spec\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading on whether such and such a par\u00adty or such and such a politi\u00adcian was doing well or poor\u00adly in some divi\u00adsion of what the Amer\u00adi\u00adcans coily call \u201cdemo\u00adgraph\u00adics\u201d? I can\u2019t think of a sin\u00adgle case. No par\u00adty has any obvi\u00adous appeal to any\u00adone on the basis of their \u201crace\u201d, a word which is more or less mean\u00ading\u00adless to most Cana\u00addi\u00adans. Cana\u00addi\u00adan pol\u00adi\u00adtics is almost always dis\u00adcussed in terms of region\u00adal issues and region\u00adal loy\u00adal\u00adties. A politi\u00adcian wor\u00adries about whether he\u2019s doing well in the West, or Que\u00adbec, Ontario, or the Mar\u00aditimes, or in urban or rur\u00adal set\u00adtings, There is not even much of a \u201cclass\u201d angle in our pol\u00adi\u00adtics. The Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives, whose poli\u00adcies favor upper income vot\u00aders, still depend more on a region\u00adal base than an income lev\u00adel one to get elect\u00aded. The New Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Par\u00adty has nev\u00ader suc\u00adceed\u00aded in win\u00adning even a local elec\u00adtion on \u201cclass\u201d issues, The Lib\u00ader\u00adals have always found their sup\u00adport across the full income range, and the Bloc is specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly and exclu\u00adsive\u00adly a region\u00adal party.<\/span><\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean that Cana\u00addi\u00adan pol\u00adi\u00adtics isn\u2019t full of stu\u00adpidi\u00adties. I can name any num\u00adber of issues in which our polit\u00adi\u00adcal cul\u00adture is pro\u00adfound\u00adly frus\u00adtrat\u00ading. Like peo\u00adple any\u00adwhere, we repeat the same mis\u00adtakes over and over again, and drag our his\u00adto\u00adry around with us like a muskrat drag\u00adging a trap on its tail. But it is a dif\u00adfer\u00adent set of frus\u00adtra\u00adtions, and a dif\u00adfer\u00adent set of stu\u00adpidi\u00adties than those that plague our neigh\u00adbour to the south, or in the U. K.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lafontaine won over the audi\u00adence by address\u00ading one of those old sores from the past that has lin\u00adgered, unsolved, for gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions: the demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic short\u00adfall in abo\u00adrig\u00adi\u00adnal self-gov\u00adern\u00adment, where a num\u00adber of Cana\u00addi\u00adans live with\u00adout prop\u00ader and respon\u00adsi\u00adble rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion. A cen\u00adtu\u00adry of pater\u00adnal\u00adis\u00adtic inter\u00adven\u00adtion has left many small com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties with a kind of ludi\u00adcrous par\u00ado\u00addy of nor\u00admal self-gov\u00adern\u00adment, and no eco\u00adnom\u00adic via\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty. This sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion is stu\u00adpid and unjust, and every\u00adone knows it. There are some vest\u00aded inter\u00adests who will stall or block any reform (some with\u00adin, and some with\u00adout the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties involved), but most of us would like to see the mat\u00adter set\u00adtled. This issue only direct\u00adly affects a very small per\u00adcent\u00adage of Cana\u00addi\u00adans. But here, the nation\u00adal instinct for fair\u00adness shows itself. It does not mat\u00adter that only a few peo\u00adple are treat\u00aded unjust\u00adly, it only mat\u00adters that the injus\u00adtice exists. This is a healthy attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actu\u00adal\u00adly, I don\u2019t agree with Lafontaine\u2019s pro\u00adposed pol\u00adi\u00adcy solu\u00adtion. I would pre\u00adfer a dif\u00adfer\u00adent approach. But his suc\u00adcess\u00adful pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion shows that the Cana\u00addi\u00adan pub\u00adlic does not con\u00adsist of a bunch of self-cen\u00adtered yahoos who will vote only to pro\u00adtect their own per\u00adson\u00adal finan\u00adcial posi\u00adtions, or in align\u00adment with some trib\u00adal loy\u00adal\u00adty, or because some\u00adone press\u00ades but\u00adtons on a con\u00adtrol board of idi\u00adot\u00adic prej\u00adu\u00addices and slogans.<\/span>
\n It means that we may have our prob\u00adlems, but we are fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly healthy. We can deal with the chal\u00adlenges that his\u00adto\u00adry throws at us.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an inter\u00adest\u00ading tele\u00advi\u00adsion con\u00adtest here in Cana\u00adda. It\u2019s called Canada\u2019s Next Great Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter. Peo\u00adple between the ages of 18 and 25 are asked to sub\u00admit a five-minute Youtube pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion in which they address one cur\u00adrent polit\u00adi\u00adcal issue. Ten \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-as-blog-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8661,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions\/8661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}