The View From Here: 2024

Friday, November 08, 2024

OP-ED -- Pierre Poilievre’s claim to understand the struggles of average Canadians is a political ploy rooted in deceit

What does Pierre Poilievre really know about the lives of average Canadians?

By Fareed Khan

https://rabble.ca/politics/canadian-politics/pierre-poilievres-claim-to-understand-the-struggles-of-average-canadians-is-a-political-ploy-rooted-in-deceit/

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has recently released a series of political ads in an effort to continue to position himself as the politician who will save Canadians from the Liberals.

Since becoming leader he has frequently invoked the struggles of ordinary Canadians in heated speeches and many of his policy proposals, and his new ad campaign reinforces those narratives while he tries to portray himself as an average Canadian sharing their everyday problems. But Canadian voters need to cautious about buying into his “ordinary Canadian” charade because he is anything but that.

Pierre Poilievre at a rally Credit: Stephan Alberola / Flickr Credit: Stephan Alberola / Flickr

The glaring contrast between Poilievre’s lifestyle and that of the average citizen raises significant questions about his understanding of the struggles of the middle or working class. It has become increasingly evident, since before he became Conservative leader, that he is ensconced within the elite ranks of society, with little appreciation or true understanding of the daily realities faced by the vast majority of Canadians.

To understand Poilievre’s disconnect from average Canadians all we have to do is look at the last 20 years of his life. His first job out of university was working for Canadian Alliance party leader Stockwell Day until he was elected as a Member of Parliament at the age of 25. Since his entry into Parliament he has enjoyed a level of financial security that today places him in the top one per cent of income earners in Canada. His current salary as Opposition Leader is $299,900 per year – a substantial figure that exceeds the average annual income of most Canadians multiple times over. Additionally, in comparison to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who both had careers outside of politics before being elected, Poilievre has never held a job where taxpayers didn’t pay his salary and benefits, thus making him a professional politician.

Moreover, Poilievre’s current living arrangements amplifies the economic disparity between him and the vast majority of Canadians. Residing in Stornoway, the publicly owned mansion for the leader of the Official Opposition, he enjoys the perks of a lavish lifestyle without having to pay any of the associated household costs – rent, hydro, phone, internet, gas, maintenance, etc. In addition, he has an annual entertainment and hospitality budget of $166,000, a figure that would raise the eyebrows of many financially challenged voters at whom his political appeals are directed. This lack of a personal financial burden common to most Canadians, combined with his publicly funded household staff – including a chef, housekeeper, and groundskeeper – places him in a realm of privilege and comfort inaccessible to the vast majority in Canada.

It is not only Poilievre’s financial situation that disqualifies him from truly understanding the struggles of the average Canadian, but also the systemic privilege inherent to his role. With a government-owned SUV at his beck and call, a chauffeur, and a 24-hour security detail, his life encapsulates an elite lifestyle alien to all but the richest in Canada. It shows an undeniable disconnect between those struggling under the burden of rising costs in housing, groceries, and other necessities, and a man rooted in a world of extreme privilege and financial security.

While it’s understandable why such expenditures would be necessary for the prime minister Canadians should ask why such taxpayer funded privileges are provided to the Poilievre when no other parliamentary democracy like Canada’s provides similar benefits and financial support to their Opposition leaders.

Poilievre’s rhetoric also often critiques what he describes as "elites" and "gatekeepers" yet he embodies the characteristics of the very segments of society he condemns. Historically Conservatives have advocated a handful of policies during election campaigns that would address the concerns of the majority, but once elected to government most of their policy initiatives often promote corporate interests along with fiscal conservatism, as well as undoing progressive policies of the previous government, which are traditionally aligned with wealthy and privileged segments of society. This proclivity of Conservatives to favour the interests of elites suggests a compulsive inability to understand the challenges faced by average Canadians.

As Canadian voters express their frustration with the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government, and with polls putting him as much as 20 percentage points behind Poilievre, many may be tempted to look towards the Opposition leader as a viable alternative. However, doing so would perpetuate a cyclical elitism that fails to significantly improve the lives of the vast majority. Poilievre’s status as a professional politician, his privileged lifestyle, and his political ideology going back to his time in the Stephen Harper government, reveals an affinity for the concerns of the privileged and powerful rather than a genuine connection to the issues and interests of Canadians far removed from his reality.

Poilievre’s ascent to political elite status and his very privileged lifestyle over the last two decades contrast starkly with the realities faced by most voters. Since he never accumulated the middle-class experiences that would help him relate to the issues important to the bottom 95 per cent of Canadians one has to wonder how can he relate to that segment of the Canadian electorate? As voters consider their options in anticipation of an election expected within the coming year it is crucial to recognize that supporting Poilievre could be detrimental to their own interests. Those seeking to lead Canada should be able to understand the struggles of average Canadians, uplift them and address their pressing needs – qualities not embodied in Poilievre’s political narrative, his policies or the elitist life he has led his entire adult life.

FAREED KHAN

Fareed Khan is the founder of Canadians United Against Hate and has written and commented extensively about issues around racism and human rights. More by Fareed Khan

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

OP-ED -- Canada’s hypocrisy on ‘rule of law’ shows as Rohingya marks 7th Genocide Remembrance Day

With the world’s attention focussed on other international crises, it seems like the plight of the Rohingya no longer matters to nations like Canada which claim to be defenders of the so-called “international legal order.”

by Fareed Khan and Raiss Tinmaung

https://rabble.ca/politics/world-politics/rohingya-remembrance/

In September 2018 Canada took leadership on the world stage when it became the first country to recognize Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya minority in that country as genocide. As violence against the Rohingya continued in Myanmar, Canada was thanked by Rohingya around the world for showing leadership, and there was hope that the federal Liberal government of Justin Trudeau would play a leading role on the world stage to help prevent further genocidal atrocities against the minority.

But as Rohingya world wide marked the seventh anniversary of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day on August 25 this year, Canada has not only demonstrated hypocrisy around its frequent claims to being a “rule of law” nation and defender of international human rights, it has also demonstrated its abject failure to defend those rights by doing little of substance to address any of the underlying issues around the Rohingya genocide despite promises to do so on multiple occasions since 2017.

Seven years after the most recent genocidal violence experienced by the Rohingya, something which is the culmination of genocidal policies implemented over the past four decades, Canada has shown that it is not interested in addressing the root causes of genocide.

The inaction of Canadian leaders gives the impression that they seem to care little that more than 400 Rohingya villages were destroyed, thousands of Rohingya women were gang raped, or that thousands of men, women and children were butchered by the Myanmar military.

Seven years of genocide

Since 2017, the political situation in that region of the world has changed. The military is back in control in Myanmar after a 2021 coup, while the Rohingya in the remaining villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state are being subjected to new atrocities.

Recently approximately 200 people were killed by drone strikes as they tried to flee on boats in the Bay of Bengal. Also, over the preceding months dozens of Rohingya villages were destroyed as Buthidaung township became a battleground for the Myanmar military and a rebel group called the Arakan Army, with the Rohingya caught in between the two forces, and many being forced to flee for their safety.

The situation in Bangladesh is also different given the recent regime change that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. But this means little for the more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees who are wasting away in the largest refugee camp in the world in that country, with little prospect of returning to their homeland.

The ‘rule of law’ hypocrisy

Canada and its allies have shown that the international rule of law matters little where it doesn’t serve the political agendas of the West. When they had the opportunity to uphold the foundations of the United Nations – the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention – they chose to do as little as possible or nothing at all where the people facing danger were racialized.

Another example of Canadian hypocrisy and failure to act is related to the genocide case filed by Gambia against Myanmar in November 2019. Despite past calls by Rohingya activists and Canadian human rights organizations for Canada to file a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice it was the tiny African nation of Gambia that stepped up and took leadership on the issue.

Since then Canada’s foreign affairs minister has issued media statements on three separate occasions saying it would support Gambia’s case but has failed to follow through each time. To Canadian Rohingya activists it appears that this nation’s leaders are more interested in getting good PR on the international stage than helping to prosecute Myanmar for its genocidal crimes.

Canada’s disinterest in preventing or stopping genocide has become very evident over the years with its unwillingness to take action against China in the genocide of its Uyghur minority, its failure to take action or at a minimum condemn the 10-month-long genocide of Palestinians by Israel, as well as Canada’s failure in the 1990s to do anything to help prevent the Rwandan Genocide or the genocide of Muslims in the Balkans. Judging from the inaction of Canadian leaders it seems Canada is more interested in showing humanity and expressing sympathy for genocide victims after the fact than preventing or stopping crimes from taking place.

By relegating the Rohingya genocide to the back burner of Canada’s foreign affairs agenda this nation’s leaders have failed again to serve the cause of human rights and international rule of law, as they have so many times in the past, and continue to do in the face of the Palestinian genocide.

In doing so they demonstrate the racism of Canada’s foreign policy, and that preventing or prosecuting genocide is not really a priority for this country.

FAREED KHAN

Fareed Khan is the founder of Canadians United Against Hate and has written and commented extensively about issues around racism and human rights. More by Fareed Khan

RAISS TINMAUNG

Raiss Tinmaung is a Canadian Rohingya activist and co-founder of the Rohingya Human Rights Network. More by Raiss Tinmaung

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

OP-ED – Islamophobia evident in appointment of MP Housefather as special advisor

MP Anthony Housefather’s appointment as “special advisor” shows racism and Islamophobia alive and well at highest levels of the Canadian government.

By Fareed Khan

https://rabble.ca/politics/canadian-politics/islamophobia-evident-in-appointment-of-mp-housefather-as-special-advisor/

The appointment in early July of MP Anthony Housefather to a new role as the federal government’s special advisor on Jewish community relations and antisemitism has demonstrated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s very questionable judgment around how to handle the surge in hate against Palestinians across the country.

It also shows that racism and Islamophobia are alive and well at the highest levels of the Canadian government with the appointment of someone who has pushed racist and Islamophobic anti-Palestinian narratives since last fall when Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the October 7th attack by Hamas. Given that the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has surpassed 47,000 as of the end of July this appeasement to pro-Israel organizations that support Israel’s genocide against Palestinians is inexcusable.

Housefather’s appointment is also indicative of Trudeau’s own anti-Palestinian prejudice and the failure of his government to fight hate as it relates to anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia. Because how can one be committed to fighting hate and racism when racists and Islamophobes sit in influential positions at the top levels of government?

Since it was elected in 2015 the Liberal government has repeatedly demonstrated that it is an unequivocal supporter of Israel by frequently defending it at the United Nations, refusing to condemn Israel’s horrific crimes against Palestinians, and more recently by opposing the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity by Israeli leaders, as well as opposing and criticizing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Given Housefather’s very vocal support of Israel, its genocidal leadership, and his capacity to run interference for Israel within the Canadian government, his appointment is completely unacceptable and will damage the fight against hate in Canada, as well as fail to uphold the human rights of Palestinians in Canada and occupied Palestine.

Since last fall there have already been numerous instances of Housefather, other Liberal and Conservative Members of Parliament, heads of Canadian universities, and right-wing news media commentators demonizing those protesting the genocide of Palestinians, and demanding that the government suppress their freedom of expression rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Given Housefather’s anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic mindset this is very likely to increase with his appointment by energizing anti-Palestinian racists and Islamophobes across Canadian society.

Housefather’s appointment also begs the question why he has been appointed to this new role when Deborah Lyons already holds the position of special envoy to fight antisemitism? Is this new role not redundant since Lyons performs the same functions as this new advisory position? If Lyons has been ineffective then the prime minister should replace her rather than creating a new position for purely political reasons. There is also the fear within Canada’s Palestinian community that Housefather will use the excuse of fighting antisemitism to deny justice to Palestinians and work to suppress their rights at home and abroad.

If any MP had promoted antisemitic narratives or hate targeting Jews, and sided with a foreign government that was committing atrocities against a Jewish population, it is guaranteed that they would never be appointed to a high-profile Canadian government role, much less a senior advisory role on fighting hate. The fact that Housefather was appointed to this new position shows that the prime minister and his government have not only lost sight of what it takes to fight the various facets of hate, but they also seem to care little for the lives or the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people, whether here in Canada or those suffering atrocities at the hands of the Israeli government.

For the last nine months Housefather has promoted and supported anti-Palestinian racist and Islamophobic narratives (along with Conservative MPs). In addition, he joined with the Conservatives and two Liberal MPs to oppose an NDP motion in the House of Commons calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Palestinians, and criticized those of his Liberal colleagues who supported the motion. The motion also included a number of other important provisions to help the Palestinian people which he opposed, including sustained and unhindered humanitarian aid for Palestinians, ending Canadian arms exports to a state committing atrocities against defenceless civilians, and an end to a genocide being committed against a people who have been enduring the longest and most brutal occupation since World War 2. In addition, Housefather travelled to Israel, along with several other MPs and a delegation of Canadian Jewish community representatives, to stand in solidarity with and defend the Israeli government whose political leaders have called for the extermination of Palestinians from Gaza.

Based on his record since last fall it is practically guaranteed that the platform Housefather’s new role affords him will be used to push pro-Israel narratives within the heart of the Canadian government, making him an agent of Israel. And this is happening at a time when Canada is holding a public inquiry into foreign interference. Judging from his previous actions he will likely use his new position to call for suppressing the freedom of expression rights of Palestinian-Canadians and malign and slander them by labelling their anti-genocide protests as “antisemitic” as they assert their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Thankfully at least one Liberal MP, Shafqat Ali from Brampton-Centre, had the courage to speak the truth about the unsuitability of Housefather in this new role. In a statement given to CBC News MP Ali said, “I think his appointment won’t be helpful in addressing antisemitism or Islamophobia because he lacks judgment and has contributed more in dividing Canadians in the last eight months.”

It is now time for other Parliamentarians to wake up and smell the coffee. Those MPs and Senators who oppose Canada’s amoral response to the genocide of Palestinians need to join Ali in opposing Housefather’s appointment. They need to tell the prime minister the folly of this appointment and demand that the position be eliminated given that Deborah Lyons has a similar role, or that he appoint one of the other Jewish MPs who clearly have a more balanced viewpoint on the issue of Israel and Palestine.

In the past when Conservative MPs have engaged with racists and white supremacists, shared racist or Islamophobic messaging on social media, or pushed racist narratives, the prime minister and Liberal MPs have condemned Conservative leaders for not calling on them to resign or removing them from caucus. The same rules should apply to Housefather whose support of Israel shows him to be an anti-Palestinian racist and Islamophobe, and whose words and actions show that he is unfit for this new advisory role let alone to be a Member of Parliament.

Fareed Khan is the founder of Canadians United Against Hate and has written and commented extensively about issues around racism and human rights.

Thursday, August 15, 2024

OP-ED -- Canada shows it doesn’t really care about stopping genocide

Canada condemns genocide with its words, but does little to prevent it with its actions.

By Fareed Khan

https://rabble.ca/human-rights/canada-shows-it-doesnt-really-care-about-stopping-genocide/

The international legal order along with the human rights of Palestinians under Israeli rule and in the West are under assault by Israel and its Western cheer leaders like never before as three foundational documents of the UN go ignored: the UN Charter, Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As the world marks 10 months since the start of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on Israel, we have to question whether Canada’s leaders who often claim to be defenders of human rights and the “international rule of law” actually believe in standing behind these documents and treaties, and whether Canada truly cares about stopping genocide. Because if Canada’s response to past genocides and current Israeli crimes in Gaza since October are any indication the answer seems to be “no”.

Since its election in 2015 the government of Justin Trudeau has often talked about Canada being a “rule of law nation” and a defender of human rights. But such political rhetoric is meaningless if his government does nothing to back that claim, particularly as the world witnesses the Palestinian genocide with almost 47,000 Palestinians killed by Israel as of mid-July.

In September 2018 the House of Commons and Senate made history when they each passed motions with unanimous support declaring the atrocities committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya in 2017–18 as a genocide, becoming the first country to do so. Subsequently the Canadian government did little of substance to follow it up with actions to stop the on-going crimes.

In February 2021 the House of Commons passed a motion declaring China’s persecution of its Uyghur minority as genocide. Of 338 MPs 266 voted in favour of the motion with the entire cabinet but one being absent for the vote. Since then, the Canadian government has done nothing of consequence, either on its own or with other like minded nations, to help stop the Uyghur genocide.

In January of this year the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim ruling on South Africa’s genocide case for Israeli crimes in Gaza calling it “plausible” that Palestinians were victims of genocide. Twelve other countries have joined South Africa’s case, including Ireland, and Canada’s NATO allies Belgium and Spain, but not Canada. This is another instance of Canada doing nothing to help stop genocidal crimes. Even a motion in the House of Commons tabled by the NDP and supported by NDP, Bloc Quebecois, Green Party and all but three Liberal MPs calling for a ceasefire and an end to Canadian arms sales to Israel, hasn’t compelled the Trudeau government to act. Canada continues to be complicit in Israeli crimes by selling Israel weapons.

Under the Genocide Convention Israel is committing four of the five crimes against Palestinians defined as genocide. By all appearances, these alleged crimes have been perpetrated “with an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”, including: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

Even Jewish and Israeli academics have signed letters and petitions calling Israeli atrocities a genocide. Israeli scholar Raz Segal, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, has called Israel’s actions “A textbook case of genocide”. And hundreds of thousands of Jews in the diaspora have joined pro-Palestinian protests in Western nations demanding an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Signatories to the Genocide Convention are legally bound to prevent the crime from happening and also prosecute perpetrators. Canada has done neither in the past, and has run interference at the ICJ and the International Criminal Court in recent years by criticizing both courts and interfering in their investigations into genocidal crimes committed by Israel and its leaders.

Canada’s failure to live up to its international legal obligations isn’t new. Along with the Rohingya and Uyghur genocides it failed to act to prevent the Rwandan genocide, the Balkans genocide, the Darfur genocide, and now the Palestinian genocide.

Claiming to support the international rule of law and institutions that enforce it but undermining each in the face of genocide is the ultimate act of hypocrisy and racism by Canada, especially given that Palestinians, Rwandans, the Rohingya, Uyghurs, Darfuris, and Muslims in the Balkans are non-white or predominantly Muslim. It’s clear through their words and actions that Liberal and Conservative governments have utterly failed to serve the cause of human rights and international rule of law in the past, and especially right now when Palestinians are facing genocide. They have only shown humanity for genocide victims after the fact, and empathy and compassion for them only when politically expedient. In doing so they demonstrate the deep racism of Canada’s foreign policy, that Canada and its leaders don’t really care about stopping genocide and seemingly never have.

Fareed Khan is the founder of Canadians United Against Hate and has written and commented extensively about issues around racism and human rights.