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#TOpoli July 20, 2018

Ontario minister wears bulletproof vest to Jane & Finch, causing backlash

Michael Tibollo, the Ontario PC Party’s minister of community safety and correctional services, said that he wore a bulletproof vest while visiting Jane and Finch, prompting leaders to call his remarks racist and ask for a comment withdrawal.

Ontario’s PC minister of community safety and correctional services visited the Jane and Finch area on July 7. He tweeted about the experience, saying, “I had the opportunity to travel around 31 Division and learn about the great work of our police force. We are committed to work with our Police to ensure safe neighborhoods free of guns and gang violence. Glad to have Premier Ford join me and hear his concerns as well.”

Premier Doug Ford also tweeted about the experience. “Enjoyed meeting with the great community members in the Driftwood neighbourhood yesterday along with Minister @MichaelTibollo and officers from 31 Division. We are focused on building strong connections between communities and our police services,” he wrote.

During a question period in Queen’s Park on July 18, Tibollo said that he wore a bulletproof vest before entering the Jane and Finch area in response to a question about carding (incidents where people – often minorities – are stopped by police for no reason). The question came from Brampton North NDP MPP Kevin Yarde.

Yarde asked, “Mr. Speaker. I personally have been carded. […] New Democrats have long been advocating for the end of carding as a first step in addressing systemic racism. […] Will you be making changes to allow even more carding to take place on Ontario streets or will you work to stamp out carding?”

Tibollo responded, “I went out to Jane and Finch, put on a bulletproof vest and spent 7:00 to 1:00 in the morning visiting sites that had previously had bullet-ridden people killed in the middle of the night.”

During a question period later in the day, Tibollo added, “They’re surrounded by drug deals, one of which I saw take place while I was there. It was absolutely horrifying.”

“The police need tools to work with, they are doing an incredible job ensuring that our streets are safe. And it’s our job — I’m not a police officer — but what I can tell you is they need skills, they need tools to work with,” he added. “Our work will be to ensure working with the communities to make sure we build trust and that we have those tools provided to them to be able to do their jobs properly.”

Opposing party leader, Andrea Horwath, tweeted about Tibollo’s comments, calling them racist. “Conservative minister Michael Tibollo’s comment this morning about wearing a bulletproof vest at Jane and Finch is inexcusably racist. Anyone who would say something so divisive has no credibility to continue to oversee Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate.”

Tibollo responded about an hour later writing, “Any attempt to spin my comments this morning, is petty partisan politics. I am proud to support our police, and I will continue to work with communities and front line officers to make sure our neighbourhoods are safe.”

However, Horwath isn’t the only opposing Ontario leader who criticized Tibollo’s actions. Yarde also called for a retraction of the comment. In response to reporters, he drew on personal experience, saying that he was pulled over seven years ago in Mississauga for no reason. “Depending on who you’re asking and as an African-Canadian, I thought it was a racist comment,” Yarde said. “It was a surprise to hear comments such as that coming from the minister of community safety and correctional services.”

Alok Mukherjee, the former chair of the Toronto Police Services Board also tweeted out that wearing a bulletproof vest during a ride-along is not standard. “Since when is this a standard procedure? I did not wear a vest in my ridealongs all over the city,” he tweeted.

Deputy Premier Christine Elliot defended Tibollo, saying that she didn’t think Tibollo intended on an offensive comment. “I think what he is speaking about is needing to go to communities to understand what’s happening, to understand how people have been hit by violence, gun violence in their neighbourhood,” she told reporters.

#TOpoli July 14, 2018

Ford sets Ontario education back 20 years

After just a few short days in office, Doug Ford has already made good on his promise to remove the liberal’s sexual education program and replace it with one that was literally published decades ago.

When Ford was elected into office he told the public that he would be removing the current sex-ed program, which focussed on important issues such as masturbation, same-sex marriage, cyber safety, and transgender people. It also taught kids about issues more prominent with today’s youth: contraceptives, STIs, and the notion of consent.

On July 11, Ford announced that schools would be reverting back to a 1998 curriculum that has no mention of the important issues highlighted in the current program. Education minister Lisa Thompson told reporters at Queen’s Park that “The sex-ed component is going to be reverted back to the manner in which it was prior to the changes that were introduced by the Liberal government.” She added that the party will be “moving very swiftly with our consultations and I will be sharing with you our process in the weeks to come.”

This decision came from Ford’s decision to consult parents on what they wanted to have taught to their children in schools and what they wanted to teach their young ones at home.

His opposition was quick to criticize the decision. NDP leader Andrea Horwath told reporters on July 11 that, “Going backwards in terms of keeping our kids safe and giving them the information they need to stay safe is not the right direction.” She added, “We worked hard to make sure that everyone in Ontario feels that they are respected, that they are able to be who they are, able to have opportunity, able to be free of violence and hate. And anything that starts to erode people’s ability to be themselves and be respected in this province is problematic.”

A petition is already in place to sway Ford into reverting his decision. The petition, called “Doug Ford: Keep Ontario’s Sex-Ed Curriculum, has already reached 54,283 signatures of their 75,000 goal to date. It reads: “The curriculum was designed and written by experts in child development, internet safety, police, and social workers, in consultation with roughly 4,000 parents. It emphasizes much-needed lessons of consent, acceptance for others and sexual health.”

While some are praising Ford for already living up to his promises, the ones that he’s put into effect will drastically alter the education of children and not the for the better.

News January 29, 2018

And they all come tumbling down

Politician after politician are resigning amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

It started with Ontario PC party leader Patrick Brown, who resigned in the early morning last week following allegations made by two women. Around the same time, Nova Scotia PC leader Jamie Bailie was forced out of his party following an investigation over “inappropriate behaviour”. The independent third-party investigation found that Braile had breached the Nova Scotia House of Assembly policy on the prevention and resolution of harassment in the workplace.

Details on the allegations were not released to the public.

And then, Sunday night, Ontario PC party president Rick Dykstra resigned. “It has a wonderful experience to watch the party’s renewal and over the next couple of months we will see the party coalesce around a new Leader,” Dykstra on Twitter “As this process unfolds, I have made the decision to step aside as President and take a step back for someone else to lead us through the hard work.”

The announcement was made a few hours before a story came out in Maclean’s Magazine alleging that Dykstra sexually assaulted a staffer following a party when he was serving as an MP in Ottawa.

Of course, not all of the resignations have come from the PCs. Federal Sport and Disabilities Minister Kent Hehr resigned from cabinet over the weekend after allegations of sexual harassment popped up on social media. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the resignation a “leave of absence” while an investigation is conducted.

“As a government, we take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously, and we believe that it is important to support women who come forward with allegations and that is exactly what our government will do,” the statement read.

Every single politician and political leader is saying the same thing. They use phrases like “it is never okay” to threaten or make a woman uncomfortable or “we take any allegations seriously”. It’s as if my saying this phrases out loud, they are waving a magic wand and saying “nothing to see here.”

This influx of resignations is just the tipping point of a broader, more wide-spread issue — the old-boys club of politics. While the federal cabinet may be gender-equal, the rest of the political arena is not. Of 308 seats within the House of Commons, only 88 are women, a measly 26 per cent. For decades, Canadian governments were led by powerful, white men, and while that is slowly changing, attitudes are not. I imagine there will be numerous more allegations made in the next few months.

Municipal, provincial, and federal governments have all indicated a need for change. Gender lenses are being attached to budgets and trade documents — and yet, our government can’t seem to get a handle of the sexism within their own backyard. The simple solution is to elect more women, especially in leadership roles. But, it’s going to take more than that. There needs to be an attitude check on parliament hill. Enough with that “it is never okay” statements. It’s time to practice what you preach and weed out the old boys club and replace them with fresh faces who are willing to respect everyone equally.

Politics February 23, 2017

Canadians join conservative party to sway leadership vote

Watching extreme-right conservative party candidates like Kevin O’Leary and Kellie Leitch gain popularity in the conservative party is frightening, and a lot of people feel helpless to prevent such an extremist conservative leader from gaining power. At a time in which our neighbours south of the border are leaning to the right, promoting xenophobia and racism among other things, it would be devastating if Canada followed suit. There has to be a way to stop the conservatives from electing a far-right leader — and a few Canadians have found one.

Instead of sitting idly by, many concerned left-leaning and liberal citizens have taken matters into their own hands by joining the conservative party, only to take part in the vote for their next party leader in May. These left-leaning citizens are being dubbed ‘imposters’ by the Conservative party for doing so, but Canadians are desperate to prevent an extreme right-winger from gaining control of any party in federal politics.

For only 15 dollars, a Canadian can join the party, as long as they are older than 14 years old and then take part in the internal party vote for the next conservative leader. The only other criteria to join the conservative movement is to accept the 22 principles of the conservative party, which are relatively moderate and democratic in nature. Examples of the principles include fiscal economic responsibility and accepting all Canadians, regardless of religion and ethnicity.

So, how does joining the Conservative party just to vote in a leader have an impact exactly?

Joining in order to vote in a more progressive leader could sway the vote substantially because of the type of voting system used in this type of election — a preferential ballot system. This means that if there is no clear majority winner, the voter indicates reference to each of the candidates listed on the ballot, and then the preferences are counted together until the winner is determined. If people are joining the conservative party simply to cast a vote for the leader, this system of voting preference could substantially change whoever the potential leader could be.

Joining a party to affect leadership is an unusual approach to democracy, but is a credible way to affect change to the right-wing political party in Canada. Kevin O’Leary is one particular leader who has little history in politics and extreme-right views, begging the question: ‘who does that remind you of?’. Kellie Leitch is another concerning candidate — woman who is pushing a xenophobic and racist agenda under the guise of “Canadian values.” She has argued for a ‘barbaric cultural practices’ RCMP tip line that has been criticized as islamophobic and is an ardent supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump. Maxime Bernier is another strong candidate due to his long history in Canadian politics, but continues a long-held conservative tradition of being bland and never thinking outside of the box. He would most likely continue the work of former conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

With left-leaning citizens joining the conservative party in order to vote, it may be possible to get a more moderate candidate like Michael Chong into the position of the leader. Chong believes in imposing a carbon tax and doesn’t stray to the far-right in his policy-making. He may be a better choice for a conservative party leader, and wouldn’t lead Canada into extreme-right rhetoric that the United States in currently experiencing.

Having an extreme right-wing leader at the helm of the conservative party could be extremely damaging for Canada. The global sentiment is currently swaying towards xenophobic, nationalist and racist ideologies that are out-dated and downright dangerous. As Canadians, we need to ensure that we do not end up in the same place as our neighbours in the U.S. Though joining the conservative party to sway the vote may be extreme, protecting true Canadian values, and not the kind of ‘Canadian values’ that Leitch is referencing, is essential.

Ultimately, you decide what kind of country you want to live in. It is up to all of us, and as a Canadian mother, I know I do not want my daughter to grow up in a country built on right-wing extremist islamophobia and hate.