Discriminations

If you Google “affirmative action,” most of the first several screens of links that appear refer to policies in foreign countries.

And now Canada’s New Democrats have joined the quota parade.

... New Democrats backed quotas and affirmative action at their convention last weekend. The party decided to take a new approach to picking candidates for the 2009 election.

Incumbents are safe. Male or female, they can run again without worry.

But for the seats held by Liberals, 30 per cent of the NDP candidates must be women. Another 10 per cent must be from other underrepresented groups -- gays or people with different-coloured skins or disabilities.

Canada’s New Democrats sound more and more like our old Democrats. And the New Democrats’ new quota policy, like the preference policies promoted by our own old Democrats, are not popular with all racial and ethnic groups, as evidenced by these excerpts from a strong editorial in the Asian Pacific Post:

Translated, the NDP’s campaign map will have mandated at least 18 no-men-allowed ridings and another five based on color and sexual preference, among other personality traits.

But never mind the numbers.

The philosophy behind this platform is totally suspect and narrow minded.

Whatever happened to the best man/woman for the job?
....
We have said this before and we will say it again.

Affirmative action programs which use racial, ethnic, and gender distinctions fail in many critical ways.

It tends to cause an undervaluation of the genuinely-earned achievements of women and minority members.

This scheme will make every female, native, minority and physically-challenged NDP candidate suspect.

Voters can never be certain whether their choice is on the ballot sheet as a result of ability and achievement, or due solely to preference given because of race or sex.

The B.C. NDP under [Carole] James has consistently failed to deliver on policy and platform.

Now it wants you to focus on who delivers the message rather than the message itself.

That is nothing more than the tail wagging the dog.

And, if I can adapt an old saying, a dog being wagged by its tail won’t hunt.