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Political leaders always say they need fresh blood
and new ideas in politics, but as soon as someone
comes along with either “new” or “fresh” ideas, that
politician usually gets cut into pieces, gets put
back together to look just like every other
politician, or, if not, gets trashed.
Take Liberal
Papineau, Que., candidate Justin Trudeau, for
example. He recently criticized the separate
French-language school system in New Brunswick when
he told a group of New Brunswick professors that one
education system would be more cost effective than
the current systems for
francophones and Anglophones.
“The segregation of French and
English in school is something to be looked at
seriously. It is dividing people and affixing labels
to people,” Trudeau said.
Immediately, the language police of
the Liberal Party issued a “search and destroy”
order against Trudeau, invoked the Charter of Rights
and Freedom, branded the young candidate who has
fresh and new ideas as a rookie (Liberal Leader
Stéphane Dion), and in need of “apprenticeship”
(Quebec Liberal MP Denis Coderre).
In particular, the Montreal veteran
MP and former minister of immigration said that J.T.
is in need of a “good talk.”
With who? With the rookie
leader Dion? Or with the same person who
during the leadership campaign confirmed the
“alternating process” of electing a leader in the
Liberal Party, a process that sees a francophone and
an Anglophone taking turns at the top of the
political organization, and “it was not an historic
accident” and that “we shouldn’t forget our
traditions.” Coderre also said he wants “a perfectly
bilingual leader. If we don’t have that, we have a
problem.” I’m wondering
what he thinks about the “perfect bilingualism” of
his present leader Stéphane Dion.
Coderre also said he believes that
“the French language should be respected just like
the English language. My point is”—he said—“that
anybody who wants to be Prime Minister he or she
must speak the French language.” Well, going back to
the Charter of Rights, does Coderre know how many
unilingual Canadians he just excluded for the most
important position in this country because of the
French language? Let me
go back to the issue raised by Justin Trudeau that
the school system “divides people. It puts a label
on them.” Well, I agree with him. It
doesn’t necessarily mean
that we have to abolish the dual system, but it
definitely means that we have to talk about it and
solve the problem. It is not a coincidence that one
of the main problems our country is facing
is related to unity.
Justin Trudeau said that the dual system “divides
people.” Before we ostracize the young candidate,
wouldn’t it be better to
at least talk about it? I confess that I was not in
the crowd of those cheering at the decision of
Trudeau to get directly involved in politics. To me,
he was, and is, just
another candidate whose last name doesn’t give him
any particular right to be different from any other
young Canadian.
However, my respect for him has
increased a lot after he decided to go out and
get the nomination in a
difficult riding, working hard like any other young
Canadian with ambitions. He won and he owes nothing
to the party or to anyone else but the people who
helped him to win in Papineau.
He has the right to speak his mind.
Now, if he recognizes that he made a
statement that doesn’t
reflect what he believes, he has done the right
thing to apologize. If he, instead, believes in what
he said last week, he has an opportunity to prove
himself and what he’s
made of.
If this is the case,
I’m sure he will not let
people like Dion or Coderre get in between himself
and his ideas.
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