The battle for Brampton
In a Brampton living room last weekend, Sunny Gill helped seal the conversion of a young Sikh truck driver who claims he can move 300 votes from the Liberals to the Conservatives.
The truck driver was just the latest domino to fall favourably for Mr. Gill, the local Conservative South Asian outreach co-ordinator. It was a satisfying moment.
“When you come here, any immigrant thinks the Liberals are demi-gods. But when you establish yourself, you look at their policies,” said Mr. Gill.
“If we’re able to split the ethnic vote, we’re going to slaughter the Liberals.”
It wasn’t long ago that voting Conservative was considered a cardinal sin in some ethnic communities. But polls now show that immigrants, the unshakeable bedrock of Liberal support, are forsaking Pierre Trudeau’s party – the party of multiculturalism, of expanded immigration, of the Charter – for Stephen Harper.
A profound political shift is taking hold, one that could give the Conservatives a crucial foothold in the Greater Toronto Area.
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Mac Says:
Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals were the party of a fragmented dream; a vision of harmonious pacifism leading to communism. They’ve become the party of a fractured nightmare where power-hungry factions argue bitterly as they grasp for relevance but fail to gain traction…
I don’t have a problem with the Conservatives making inroads in the immigrant communities so long as the goal is to bring about conservative values and principles.
Posted on October 24th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Jack Says:
Re: #1 — Neither do I, Mac.
Posted on October 24th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
fernstalbert Says:
Canadians who believe in self-reliance, family values, good government, law and order are finally looking seriously at the Conservatives. I have often wondered what ethnic communities saw in the Liberal agenda. If you have a grievance and victim mentality then the Liberals are the party of choice. Cheers.
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Cynapse Says:
I have often wondered what ethnic communities saw in the Liberal agenda.
Half a chance to prosper?
Harper’s logic is sound, given his inability to penetrate the cities; however he’s going to run into some problems with the shotgun-toting, wannabe Republicans that make up his base since anti-immigrant sentiment is core to their values and if Harper wants city votes he will need to reverse course on that topic.
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 11:30 am
fernstalbert Says:
Lets see, I’m a Conservative and the people who influence my life are from all walks of life and communities. We are not a homogenous, bland group of people – my dentist is from Lebanon, my son’s barber is from the Turkey, my surgeon is from India (part of the Sikh community), the people who rent my building and run a successful small business are from Pakistan, my son works with men who are from Cuba and Jamacia, my cleaning lady is from Iraq (her employee is from Hungary), my lawncare people are originally from Britain, my tailor is from Vietnam, my husband was cared for by nurses from Africa, Russia, China and the Philippines, my GP is from South Africa, I buy Portugese and German bakery products, buy groceries from my local halal market, the plumber is also from Lebanon, my husband’s family are Metis, my next door neighbour is 3rd generation Japanese, my blonde, blue eyed niece was married by a Nigerian priest, my mail is delivered by Somalias, the pharmacist is from India, etc. Shall I continue? I also love Chinese/Greek food and a good American burger. I am happy to spend my money with people who work hard and pay their way. I am humbled and grateful that they have choosen Canada to be their home. Rural Canada is a vibrant, exciting place to be and opportunity knocks for those who are interested. Cheers. (we don’t all own guns in the hinterland, but I do have a can of Raid that might come in handy and a cat that will attack on command)
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Cynapse Says:
That’s wonderful for you, but you know very well that even on this board there are many grumblings about “too many immigrants” and actions elsewhere (like the flight out of Toronto to wonderful places like Keswick) that symbolize many people believe otherwise. These people usually vote conservative in hopes that right-leaning parties will limit or reverse immigration to “protect Canadian culture” etc. Now Harper, as the leader of the Cons, needs to court these recent immigrants without being labeled “Liberal” by his rural, mono cultural base.
Surely you don’t believe that this is going to be an easy ride for Mr Harper?
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
ward Says:
Sikhs are a very political religious group. How come all the progressives arent shouting the dangers of mixing of politics and religion?
Special interest groups gained great power and influence by supporting the Libs. Now that the Libs are no longer able to offer that, they are losing support of those groups.
If someone wants to join the Conservative Party because they feel it most closely reflects their values, I’m all for it. If it is to gain access to the levers of power and influence, then I do not.
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
fernstalbert Says:
It is wonderful – I enjoy people – how boring if everyone was like me! Now if I do have a prejudice, I freely admit that Toronto is not my favourite city and that Liberals are not far behind. Its all about the politics. Cheers.
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Mac Says:
Half a chance to prosper?- Cy
Immigrant voting had nothing to do with prosperity and everything to do with manipulation on the part of the Liberals. They created the “We opened the country to your family and we appreciate your loyalty” game and rode it for decades.
Posted on October 25th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
FF_Canuck Says:
Cynapse,
I can’t help but think that you have a grossly distorted perception of rural Canadians. I’m not going to deny the presence of some anti-immigrant sentiment – but I’ll say honestly that I’ve seen as much of it from inner city urbanites (some recent immigrants themselves) as I have from my fellow hicks in the sticks.
As for monocultural? I’m almost offended. The valley I grew up in was settled by Italians, Irish, Greeks, Brits, Scots, Americans … etc, all of whom brought their own unique cultural heritages with them and shared them with their new neighbours. Those cultures have blended, but people still speak Italian alongside English, invite their neighbours to opulent Greek weddings, go to the Legion for Robbie Burns Night and St. Patrick’s Day, celebrate July 4th and July 1st … it goes on and on.
I would put it to you that this is real multiculturalism – not a forced melting pot or an artificial mosaic but an organic stew where each new component adds something new, while also absorbing the larger taste of the stew.
Posted on October 26th, 2009 at 1:37 am
Cynapse Says:
Distorted? Not likely since that’s where life started for me (20+years in rural areas vs 6 years in Toronto). I may have seen a different side of them than you, and probably a more accurate side, given the circumstances. My area was populated with people of English, French, Dutch, Scottish, Irish, German, Polish and Serbian/Croatian. All of those specific groups had their own hard stories that today’s immigrants could probably relate to, but the important thing is that only the OLDER immigrants knew of them and could recite them. The 2nd gens claimed the titles but didn’t know the struggle. The 3rd gens were more often than not a mix of several of the aforementioned ethnicities and tended to refer to themselves as Canadians and nothing else.
What they all had in common is European origin, meaning they were not classed as “The other” once they stopped being so damn Polish/Dutch/etc origin. Not so for the local native population, whom were the biggest target of the good ol boys. The fights were legendary and the insults memorable. Similarly, the black decedents of slaves (some of whom came as part of the underground railroad) also got boxed, despite being in the region longer than many of the Europeans. Same for certain Indo and Chinese families (all them could be counted on 2 hands)
Prior to the 1990′s there weren’t any government committees or those other things conservatives love to complain about; the good ol boys had the frrrreeeedom to abuse whoever they wanted without much consequence. There simply weren’t enough minorities to fight back and force respect, nor enough conscientious among the majority to protest.
That’s the difference with rural areas – numbers. City groups may be just as bad, but realize there is a cost for disrespect and moreover no one know who’s capable of what so there’s a cautious respect between individuals. In a small town, it’s always known who has the power and the bullies rarely have to worry about negative reaction from the rest of the dominating tribe. This is true in any country during any time period. It also explains why so many rural people hate Toronto – they’re not God here.
Posted on October 26th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Cynapse Says:
To quote Mac, may have used a broad brush stroke there. Sometimes rural populations are not hostile to outsiders. Example: Anton Valley, Panama. Our reception was quite warm despite us having next to no knowledge of the local culture. Reason is simple: they’re used to tourists bringing in truckloads of cash to spend on their knick-knacks.
Posted on October 26th, 2009 at 8:42 am