Six measly tweets: that’s all it took to help the federal Liberal party raise money and the federal Conservative leader to lower his profile.
The tweets were authored, bilingually, by Conservative frontrunner-turned-backbencher Maxime Bernier, who warned that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing a “cult of diversity.” As the ears of racists perked up like labradoodles at the jingle of car keys, the Quebec MP went on to envision a Mad Max-like hellscape in which Canada is torn into tribes characterized by distrust, conflict, and potentially violence. He also suggested the crux of the problem is in welcoming immigrants who reject Canadian values; for instance: “tolerance.”
It’s understandable to want to protect Canada’s institutions and cherish our nation’s past. It’s also true Canada’s percentage of immigrants today is the largest it’s been since the 1920s and ’30s, back when our country was beset by a wave of immigrants, the same immigrants who helped build the institutions we protect and create much of the past we cherish.
The release of the social media Bern-book – and the fact that a portion of the Conservative party has contorted themselves into the nebulous zone between agreement and condemnation – is more evidence we’ve entered an era of politics in which overt racism is a viable tactic.
In two months we’ll be choosing our new municipal governments. It would be a shame to sacrifice a second from meaningful debates about how we live, how we work, and how we get from one to the other to talk about remarks that are only worthy of condemnation.
Greater diversity might change Canada. After reading Bernier’s tweet screed, all we can add is that we hope it happens quickly.
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