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Ivison: O’Toole’s pro-Canada speech may resonate with voters tired of apologies

2021/06/25 Leave a comment

Ivison’s take. We shall see.

Of course, it was Conservative governments that started the trend, Mulroney’s apology to Japanese Canadians (and “drive-by” apology to Italian Canadians), and Harper government apologies to Chinese Canadians and a “drive-by” apology to Sikh Canadians, and the most significant, the apology to Indigenous peoples for residential schools. The Liberal government just extended the practice (in contrast to earlier Liberal governments).

The Australian equivalent to “sack-cloth and ashes” is the “black armband” portrayal of history.

That being said, there is a balance between recognizing and acknowledging the negative aspects of our history and present without acknowledging the positive ones:

Erin O’Toole’s leadership pledge to “take back Canada” was viciously lampooned. “Indigenous folks, did you hear Erin O’Toole wants to give you your land back,” quipped one social media satirist.

The slogan may have helped O’Toole get elected leader but its Trumpian undercurrent ensured it was retired after he decided to present a more moderate image to Canadians.

O’Toole has since released his five–point recovery plan – one million jobs; a new anti-corruption law; a mental health action plan; a stockpile of essential products and vaccines, and, balancing the budget over the next decade – to a collective yawn across the country. Nothing O’Toole has said or proposed so far has moved the needle. On the contrary, his polling numbers suggest he may lead the Conservatives into Michael Ignatieff territory at the next election.

As Parliament breaks for the summer, and Justin Trudeau’s talk about “obstructionism and toxicity” in the House of Commons makes a fall election more likely than not, Conservatives are looking at their prospects with dread and fear.

However, a speech the leader gave to his caucus on Wednesday morning suggests he may have struck on an idea whose time has come – an appeal to citizens that is more Ronald Reagan than Donald Trump.

He said he found the discovery of mass graves containing the remains of 215 Indigenous children to be “very troubling” and a “necessary awakening that brutally forced us to confront our past”.

O’Toole has a chequered history when it comes to residential schools – he told a group of students at Ryerson University last year that the schools were meant to “provide education” – comments he later retracted, saying the system was really designed to remove children from their homes, families, traditions and culture.

On Wednesday, he said that a future Conservative government would mediate a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous people, based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.

But he said the road to reconciliation does not involve “tearing Canada down.”

He said the injustices of the past have been seized upon by activists “who attack the very idea of Canada itself.”

He said it is against this background that Canada Day celebrations are being cancelled – “our day of celebration when Canadians of every background come together to give thanks for living in the greatest country in the world.”

He said Canada is not a perfect country but no country is.

“There is not a place on the planet whose history can stand such close scrutiny,” he said. “But there is a difference between acknowledging where we have fallen short, a difference between legitimate criticism and tearing down the country; always being on the side of those who run Canada down, always seeing the bad and never the good.”

He said the commitment to freedom, respect and inclusion is shared by Canadians, whether they have been here three months or three generations.

O’Toole’s pay-off line would make a good slogan in a general election – “it’s time to build Canada up, not tear it down.”

It is a stark contrast to what we are used to hearing from NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh and Trudeau.

Singh recently called Canada “a place of racism,” while the prime minister has been guilty of what columnist Rex Murphy called “sack-cloth and ashes leadership” when he has talked about this country’s history.

“There are many institutions that we have in this country, including the big building right across the street from us (Parliament) that has and is built around a system of colonialism, discrimination, of systemic racism in all our institutions,” the prime minister said last March.

Trudeau has issued countless apologies to groups he believes have been “scapegoated” over the course of a “shameful” history. He is apt to see bigotry at every turn. When opposition MPs asked about the firing of two Chinese microbiologists from a Winnipeg lab, Trudeau said he would “not give in to pandering to anti-Asian racism.”

But this preponderance for assuming guilt for wrongs for which the present generation bears no responsibility creates an opening for O’Toole.

An opinion poll by the Angus Reid Institute this week suggests most Canadians, including most people who voted Liberal at the last election, hold views on this issue closer to those of the Conservative leader than to Trudeau. The poll said only one third of Canadians back the notion that “Canada is a racist country”, while two-thirds do not. By party break down, 62 per cent of Liberal voters, 82 per cent of Conservative voters and 87 per cent of Bloc supporters disagreed with the statement. Only 45 per cent of NDP voters and 46 per cent of Greens dissent from the idea of Canada as a racist country.

At the same time, the vast majority believe in racial equality and diversity.

O’Toole’s theme of a country that is proud of its place in the constellation of nations; one that boasts of its belief in freedom, respect and inclusion, while acknowledging that tragic mistakes have been made, is one that resonates with more people than Trudeau’s salvation anxiety.

The Conservative leader may have trouble convincing voters about his party’s commitment to inclusivity when more than half of his MPs vote against a ban on conversion therapy, as they did this week.

But it is one of Trudeau’s vulnerabilities that he believes Canadians share his devotion for activism. The reality is quite different. As one Liberal MP told me: “What I hear at the doorstep is: ‘I don’t want to hear any more apologies…I don’t want any more political correctness. Talk about the things that make a difference in my life.”

O’Toole may have given himself a chance with those voters.

Source: O’Toole’s pro-Canada speech may resonate with voters tired of apologies

Filed under Aboriginal, Multiculturalism Tagged with apologies, Erin O'Toole, John Ivison

About Andrew
Andrew blogs and tweets public policy issues, particularly the relationship between the political and bureaucratic levels, citizenship and multiculturalism. His latest book, Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias, recounts his experience as a senior public servant in this area.

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