2019 Federal Election

[jgsz]

Andrew Moraga will be the NDP's candidate for Kitchener-Centre in the Federal Election this fall.  He will face incumbent Liberal MP Raj Saini.  

According to this article on the CBC site, Moraga described himself as "a person of colour from a multi-ethnic background, a proud member of the LGBTQ-plus community, an environmental advocate, a scientist, and so much more..."

I have mixed feelings about NDP leader Jagmeet Singh but Andrew Moraga is my kind of candidate.

[jamincan]

I'm not looking forward to this coming election. Federal Liberals who betrayed their whole #realchange platform and are neck-deep in old-style Liberal cronyism versus Andrew Scheer's Conservatives who are far too happy to embrace the most repugnant parts of their base. The NDP is just luke-warm enough that they'll probably attract enough support away from the Liberals and we'll be facing a situation similar to what we had in Ontario with the least desirable person winning. And talking heads wonder why people are disillusioned with politics... Thankfully local politics seems far more responsive and democratic still.

[robdrimmie]

That articulates my exact feelings on the matter as well. It's going to be a gross campaign too, and it's going to coincide with being flooded with horrible messaging from the leadership campaigns in the States. This summer is going to be vile from a politics standpoint I think.

[Spokes]

I'm not looking forward to this coming election. Federal Liberals who betrayed their whole #realchange platform and are neck-deep in old-style Liberal cronyism versus Andrew Scheer's Conservatives who are far too happy to embrace the most repugnant parts of their base. The NDP is just luke-warm enough that they'll probably attract enough support away from the Liberals and we'll be facing a situation similar to what we had in Ontario with the least desirable person winning. And talking heads wonder why people are disillusioned with politics... Thankfully local politics seems far more responsive and democratic still.

This is my biggest concern.  The NDP seem to be doing nothing as far as gaining any traction, but are just kind of treading water and taking support from the Liberals.

[Section ThirtyOne]

I'm not looking forward to this coming election. Federal Liberals who betrayed their whole #realchange platform and are neck-deep in old-style Liberal cronyism versus Andrew Scheer's Conservatives who are far too happy to embrace the most repugnant parts of their base. The NDP is just luke-warm enough that they'll probably attract enough support away from the Liberals and we'll be facing a situation similar to what we had in Ontario with the least desirable person winning. And talking heads wonder why people are disillusioned with politics... Thankfully local politics seems far more responsive and democratic still.

This is my biggest concern.  The NDP seem to be doing nothing as far as gaining any traction, but are just kind of treading water and taking support from the Liberals.

Don't forget Maxime and company will be taking votes away from the Conservative party, so Mr. Scheer is far from a sure win. We didn't have an alternative 'right-wing' party here in Ontario during the last provincial election.

[danbrotherston]

Certainly going to be an interesting election. I will be voting for either the NDP or Green, probably depending on specific policies and candidates.

I have been extremely disappointed by Trudeau and also my local candidate Raj Saini, who I met with before the election and he convinced me to vote for him because he supported electoral reform. After it died, I sent him a letter asking him to stand up for it, and I received a party form letter in response. I will be marking the liberals as my second choice on the next ballot, it's on them that such a gesture means absolutely nothing.

Sadly, I do fear that this will simply get the conservatives elected, and Scheer is making a strong argument for a strategic vote, but it's not that strong yet. It pisses me off to no end that instead of leaving the crazy racist nationalist parts of the party to Bernier, and embracing good conservative policies, which I would certainly respect, and frankly, in some cases support, we're faced with this insane garbage polarization, the same thing that destroyed US politics.

I am sad though, I've seen almost no coverage of the NDP lately, I don't know why this is. I have no problem with Singh, but the only thing I know of him was that he was on the CBC riding a bike. I sure wish I could get more coverage of him so I'd actually be able to make an informed vote, but I guess that's not the purpose of the media...if it ever was.

[jeffster]

Andrew Moraga will be the NDP's candidate for Kitchener-Centre in the Federal Election this fall.  He will face incumbent Liberal MP Raj Saini.  

According to this article on the CBC site, Moraga described himself as "a person of colour from a multi-ethnic background, a proud member of the LGBTQ-plus community, an environmental advocate, a scientist, and so much more..."

I have mixed feelings about NDP leader Jagmeet Singh but Andrew Moraga is my kind of candidate.

I don't like getting involved in politics -- all 3 have great ideas, and all 3 have horrible ideas. All 3, if they were to win, would do some fine things, while all 3 will end up hurting a lot of people and get embroiled in more BS scandals, though some have better luck at going down that rabbit hole.

I will say this year, though, we have a choice between dumb, dumber, and dumberer (yeah, it's not a word). All 3 parties fit well into the dumberer category.

Now, as for a persons background -- such as their skin colour, ethnic background, memberships to things like LGBTQ+, super meaningless. No one should get a free ride for such things.

[jamincan]

I will be marking the liberals as my second choice on the next ballot, it's on them that such a gesture means absolutely nothing.

I smell a twitter campaign in this. #secondchoiceliberal or something. This coming election would be far more straightforward if Trudeau hadn't betrayed his so-called principles, whatever those are worth these days.

[jamincan]

Now, as for a persons background -- such as their skin colour, ethnic background, memberships to things like LGBTQ+, super meaningless. No one should get a free ride for such things.

You're right, that shouldn't be a ticket into office, but it does make me hope that the person will therefore be more sensitive and empathetic to issues affecting marginalized and vulnerable people.

[danbrotherston]

Now, as for a persons background -- such as their skin colour, ethnic background, memberships to things like LGBTQ+, super meaningless. No one should get a free ride for such things.

You're right, that shouldn't be a ticket into office, but it does make me hope that the person will therefore be more sensitive and empathetic to issues affecting marginalized and vulnerable people.

This was a major epiphany for me. It took me a long time to realize that a lack of diversity is a major harm...even if you get good people, they won't have a lived experience of other folks.  I do my best to empathize and to understand--which is more than many people do--but I still have never experienced life as say, a person questioning their sexuality, or a person who feels (rightly or wrongly) that the police are the enemy.

[jeffster]

Now, as for a persons background -- such as their skin colour, ethnic background, memberships to things like LGBTQ+, super meaningless. No one should get a free ride for such things.

You're right, that shouldn't be a ticket into office, but it does make me hope that the person will therefore be more sensitive and empathetic to issues affecting marginalized and vulnerable people.

I really consider it a sales ploy. When I think of someone bringing up their background, for example, I think Cory Booker (US Democratic Presidential hopeful). I prefer if someone doesn't bring all those things up.

The problem, the more certain individuals push this type of, I'll call it heritage and/or agenda, the more others will turn off and vote for someone that really shouldn't be in office, or at least the first choice.

A low-income disabled transgendered gay mixed-minority veteran isn't necessarily going to be better suited for office than some affluent middle-aged white male executive lawyer dude. Neither should get preferential treatment.

[jeffster]

You're right, that shouldn't be a ticket into office, but it does make me hope that the person will therefore be more sensitive and empathetic to issues affecting marginalized and vulnerable people.

This was a major epiphany for me. It took me a long time to realize that a lack of diversity is a major harm...even if you get good people, they won't have a lived experience of other folks.  I do my best to empathize and to understand--which is more than many people do--but I still have never experienced life as say, a person questioning their sexuality, or a person who feels (rightly or wrongly) that the police are the enemy.

Yet, if you look at who was elected in this region, for example: MP's for Canada include 3 minorities (out of 5), including a female minority, and for MPP's in Ontario, we have 4 females (out of 5) including a minority. Fully 50% of our politicians are female and 40% are (visible) minorities.

As for issues of treatment, say for those that identify their sexuality differently than most, or those that fear the police (and usually rightly), these are serious issues that I am sure politicians can't change. When the CBC (with their Liberal slant) carry on with Don Cherry, you see that having friends in the right places (Ottawa) is meaningless. Habits are hard to change, and people still have a difficult time respecting one another. But that respect has to be mutual too -- and as long as it is not mutual, then we'll continue to have issues. Just my 2¢ worth (which when rounding, is worthless).

[MidTowner]

I really consider it a sales ploy. When I think of someone bringing up their background, for example, I think Cory Booker (US Democratic Presidential hopeful).  I prefer if someone doesn't bring all those things up.

The problem, the more certain individuals push this type of, I'll call it heritage and/or agenda, the more others will turn off and vote for someone that really shouldn't be in office, or at least the first choice.

A low-income disabled transgendered gay mixed-minority veteran isn't necessarily going to be better suited for office than some affluent middle-aged white male executive lawyer dude. Neither should get preferential treatment.

I think that's a fair point to make. When someone like Moraga makes a statement like the one jgsz quoted, a lot of people will hear someone trying to push an identitarian agenda, and will have the reaction that, if so much is made of the groups this individual belongs to, a member of an out-group should feel threatened.

[danbrotherston]

This was a major epiphany for me. It took me a long time to realize that a lack of diversity is a major harm...even if you get good people, they won't have a lived experience of other folks.  I do my best to empathize and to understand--which is more than many people do--but I still have never experienced life as say, a person questioning their sexuality, or a person who feels (rightly or wrongly) that the police are the enemy.

Yet, if you look at who was elected in this region, for example: MP's for Canada include 3 minorities (out of 5), including a female minority, and for MPP's in Ontario, we have 4 females (out of 5) including a minority. Fully 50% of our politicians are female and 40% are (visible) minorities.

As for issues of treatment, say for those that identify their sexuality differently than most, or those that fear the police (and usually rightly), these are serious issues that I am sure politicians can't change. When the CBC (with their Liberal slant) carry on with Don Cherry, you see that having friends in the right places (Ottawa) is meaningless. Habits are hard to change, and people still have a difficult time respecting one another. But that respect has to be mutual too -- and as long as it is not mutual, then we'll continue to have issues. Just my 2¢ worth (which when rounding, is worthless).

Our region is definitely very good when it comes to diverse representation, I was also very excited to have a gay premier, and when she was elected, her identity never really came up much, and I thought that was great.

I'm not sure why you say that politicians cannot change the institutional problems we have. It is perhaps the case that establishment politicians do not want too be bold, but certainly they have the power to enact changes, and if those changes are smart, they can be effective...if not immediate.

One of the best things that can be done to improve these things is improving education, and in terms of things like sexual identify and families you see the last liberal government making a push for positive changes, and it being torn apart by the current government..the lesson here for me is that is that not all are equally bad even among establishment politicians, some are moving forward however imperceptibly slowly, some are moving backwards.

But I really do believe that while I may support those initiatives, my lack of experience with that lived experience means I lack the qualifications to effectively evaluate them, and I'm happy to defer that judgement to those who do. This goes far beyond politics, and in fact, my moment of clarity came not from politics, but from the tech industry where I have the most experience--companies which are not diverse are very likely to miss the needs and wants of groups that are missing--especially in management, even when those companies have the best of intentions.

[tomh009]

This was a major epiphany for me. It took me a long time to realize that a lack of diversity is a major harm...even if you get good people, they won't have a lived experience of other folks.  I do my best to empathize and to understand--which is more than many people do--but I still have never experienced life as say, a person questioning their sexuality, or a person who feels (rightly or wrongly) that the police are the enemy.

Yes, but every individual has lived different experiences. Having skin colour X does not necessarily mean the person has been discriminated against -- in fact, such a person could possibly even be a racist, even if X is not "white". And even if X is "black", it doesn't mean you necessarily have been harassed by the police.

Visible minorities are indeed more likely to be discriminated against, and more likely to be harassed by police, but that does not mean that every such person has had those experiences. So a candidate having such a skin colour may not have lived such experiences, either. (In fact, it's probably less likely than average as most political candidates tend to come from the higher socioeconomic classes.) On the other hand, a candidate (regardless of skin colour) who has experienced poverty and/or homelessness would indeed bring some valuable experience into the discussion.