Tim Hudak, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, engaged in some good ol', down home racism when he came out swinging against Premier Dalton McGuinty's proposal for a $10,000.00 tax credit for businesses that hire new immigrants. Mr. Hudak mused "Dalton McGuinty wants to pay companies ten thousand to hire foreign workers when we have half a million people in Ontario today who are looking for jobs." Job creation and labour market intervention are bizarre issues for Hudak to play offence on given that his platform on these points is embarrassingly sophomoric.
Curiously just last year Mr. Hudak authored a bill called the Newcomers Employment Opportunities Act, 2010. At the time he soapboxed: "This contains practical and affordable measures to help new Canadians find and create jobs here in Ontario. It is an example of forward thinking that is badly need and long overdue." Mr. Hudak's comments and legislative initiative in part reflected the harsh realities that immigrants face in Ontario's labour market such as: a high unemployment rate, the racialized income gap and not having foreign credentials recognized. Now a little over year later the welcoming phrase "new Canadians" has mutated into the misleading and jingoistic "foreign workers".
Mr. Hudak is correct in assessing that there is a problem with unemployment in Ontario. Indicators like job creation and labour market participation are falling amid global economic uncertainty, but these developments have nothing to do with Mr. Hudak's fanciful conjuring of hoards of imagined, job stealing foreign workers. Rather structural unemployment points to a dark place that no politician dare tread: a debate about the juncture we've arrived at through the interwoven processes of neoliberalism, financialization, globalization, and deindustrialization. In the wake of the 2008 recession as a society we have not come to grips with the conditions that led us to the brink of economic collapse and how we might avoid a recurrence. Beyond this we need to begin discussing how to create the conditions of shared prosperity with solutions that combat problems like rising income inequality, child poverty and the hollowing out of the middle class.
One hopes elections would be a time to discuss big ideas, however, nothing indicates that the current one will be a departure from the status quo. In fact, Mr. Hudak's overtly racist, xenophobic attack on new Canadians has topped the previous low set by the subtext of Islamophobic fear mongering that dominated the 2007 provincial election when John Tory was eviscerated over his principled (but erroneous) stand on the faith-based schools issue. This ongoing moral race to the bottom is disgusting and speaks to the depravity of Canada's political class who live and die at the altar of power, partisanship and perpetual rule. The betterment of society has somehow become hopelessly old-fashioned with the rest of us wondering when the hand basket is going to arrive at its final destination. Hopefully we turn the corner and move away from cynical, divisive politics towards a system that holistically addresses the needs of all segments of society, not just those tailoring the new Emperor's clothes.
You might find this initiative interesting: http://www.firstwork.org/6million
ReplyDeleteYes, that's an interesting link.
ReplyDeleteSomething I noticed is that we're not talking about vast sums of money here. Six million for a youth labour market strategy or twelve million towards getting new Canadians professional workplace experience isn't going to break the bank within the context of a budget of tens of billions of dollars. If anything, Hudak's comments prove how out of whack certain politicians have become in thinking that race-baiting and strategically abandoning an increasing important segment within Canadian society is acceptable campaign strategy.