Maxime Bernier's "Extreme Multiculturalism" Twitter Rants Sound More Like Sour Grapes
Last week, Conservative Member of Parliament, Maxime
Bernier posted a series of tweets on Twitter espousing his opposition to
“extreme multiculturalism” and the “cult of diversity” in Canada. According to
Bernier, diversity will “destroy” the cultural identity of Canada and worse, will result in “cultural balkanization” that leads to social conflict and even "violence".
These tweets were not the usual fair commentary offered by elected officials on
matters of public policy. No – there was something a bit more frantic, even
desperate about these tweets. These tweets sounded like the rantings of a
wayward politician who, having failed in all of his political endeavours to date,
couldn’t think of any other way to get attention but to ride the populist white
supremacy wave.
A combination of deep-seated racism and white
superiority, together with Trump-like fear-mongering seems to be the current populist
recipe for manufacturing hate and division for the purpose of political gain. It also seems to reward the
instigators with gratuitous attention on social media.
If we are to understand Bernier’s Sunday night tweet
rant better, we have to understand that Bernier is a failed politician. He was
a separatist from Quebec who voted in the 1995 referendum for Quebec to
separate from Canada, but that vote and his efforts, failed. He was later
successful in being elected a Conservative MP from Beauce, Quebec and was even
appointed Foreign Affairs Minister under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
However, he was forced to resign in scandal when he left classified documents
at his girlfriend’s place for nearly a month. After Harper’s Conservatives were
devastated in the last election, giving Trudeau’s Liberals a majority
government, Bernier ran for leadership of the Conservative party and lost to
Andrew Scheer. Soon after, he released portions of a cry-all book about
how he lost the leadership bid, but publication was halted. His own
peers said this cry-all book was more about “sour grapes” from losing and his
“vanity” and need for attention. Most recently, he was silently kicked from
Scheer’s shadow cabinet.
If ever there was a recipe for some hateful
sour-grapes, this would be it. A failed separatist, Minister, leader, author
and shadow cabinet member, Bernier clearly wants to make a name for himself in
whatever way he can. We all know that Republican President Donald Trump’s
sexist, racist, anti-immigrant fear-mongering seems to have appealed to
the ultra right-wing and white supremacists in the USA. It also seemed to work
for Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a “fiercely right-wing populist”,
who won an election with a “take care of our own” attitude devoid of any
substantive public policy - unless you include his buck-a-beer-for-all promise.
It would seem that Bernier is once again suffering from sour grapes and has
resorted to this hateful, racist rant against every other culture than his own people– the very people that seems to have rejected him.
It is not the fault of new
immigrants that Bernier’s own party have rejected him over and over. Nor can his
misery be tied to the legal right of people from diverse cultures to
enjoy their traditions in Canada. This is an example of popular white supremacism – the
idea that people of other racial, ethnic or cultural backgrounds are inherently
dangerous and should not mix with “old stock Canadians” - i.e. "white" Canadians. The difference between the white nationalism/supremacy of the past is that those who espouse these views today tend to do so in a less direct way under the guise of public policy debate.
But his hatefulness doesn’t focus only on new
immigrants. Several days later, he was also first in line on Twitter to trash
the Trudeau government’s intention to create a statutory “holiday” in
remembrance of the atrocities committed in residential schools. Despite this
being 1 of the 94 Call to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and
represents the wishes of many of the survivors, Bernier accused called this
“another sick characteristic of extreme PC [political correctness] and
multiculturalism”. To my mind, the wishes of the survivors should be paramount on the issue of whether there is a national day of remembrance. Bernier went on to categorize the day of remembrance as a “cult
of victimhood and obsession with past wrongs”. I wonder if he would also apply
this logic to Remembrance Day on November 11th, or any of the war
memorials that exist in Canada? Somehow, I don’t think so.
The whole point of national days of remembrance and
memorials is to ensure that Canadians never forget the atrocities that
happened. The idea is to honour those we have lost and make sure history never
repeats itself. It is a concept shared by most nations around the world.
Germany for example has taken great steps to not only erase any Nazi symbols
from their society, but also create memorials to remember the many lives lost.
Here in Canada, we hope to have several national days of remembrance that
include one for residential schools and memorials to lives lost, like murdered
and missing Indigenous women. In recent months we have also been talking about
how to deal with statues and other symbols of individuals who, despite being
historic figures, were the perpetrators of a campaign of genocide against
Indigenous peoples – like Sir John A. MacDonald. The TRC report confirmed that
Canada engaged in all three types of genocide against Indigenous peoples –
cultural, physical and biological. It is long past time that we talked about
how to reflect history accurately and responsibly.
Bernier’s Twitter rants about “extreme PC” couldn’t be
further from the truth when it comes the ongoing legacy of injustice against
Indigenous peoples in Canada. His Twitter tirades about immigrants who don’t
share the same skin colour, religion or culture as him don’t reflect the laws
of this country – Indigenous or Canadian. It’s highly ironic that Bernier would
advocate against any more diverse immigrants while at the same time demand that
Indigenous history be erased. I guess that is the privilege assumed by those
whose ideas reflect and promote (directly or indirectly) white supremacy – as if
anyone else is not only dangerous, but a threat to whiteness. While Bernier is
only the most visible example of this kind of thinking, in fairness, he is not
alone.
Senator Lynn Beyak was booted from Conservative caucus
after her racist postings about Indigenous peoples. Conservative MP Pierre
Poillievre said racist remarks against residential school survivors on the same
day as the apology. Former Conservative Indian Affairs Minister Bernard
Valcourt regularly made racist comments against First Nations, at one point
calling First Nation treaty Chiefs “threats to national security”. With regard to Bernier’s most recent comments, Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer has failed to specifically
condone them, nor has he removed Bernier from the party – which he should do.
This is not much of a surprise given the fact that Scheer’s own campaign
manager was the founding director for Rebel Media which promotes white
nationalism.
In the end, the Conservative Party needs to be very clear with Canadians about their party and what it stands for today. Andrew Scheer and the party either stand wholly behind Bernier or they
do not – there is no in between. Right now, Scheer seems to stand more behind Bernier than not. It's Scheer's move now.
To watch my Youtube video on this issue and participate in the ongoing discussion, click here:
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