Whities & Brown People
According to a Conservative MP, it makes no sense to pay “whities” to stay home while companies bring in brown people.
New Brunswick's John Williamson was also once a communications director for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
THE QUOTE
Williamson was at the Manning Networking Conference in Ottawa on the weekend where he was commenting on this country's Temporary Foreign Worker Program. He was reportedly responding to a question.
“My part of the country, I deal with temporary foreign workers and the interaction with employment insurance, and it makes no sense from my point of view. I'm going to put this in terms of colours but it's not meant to be about race. It makes no sense to pay “whities” to say home while we bring in brown people to work in these jobs.”
Williams then posted a series of Tweets on Saturday to apologize for his comments. “Today I used inappropriate language.” “For this I apologize unreservedly.”
Say something stupid and racist, then apologize on Twitter. Does that mean it's over? Sadly, Williamson may get away with this one based on the underlying racism that still exists in this country.
Pundits are wondering how much this represents the Harper Conservatives. Is Williamson simply the tip of the proverbial iceberg? In an election year they'll need more than “whities” to retain a majority.
I was particularly amused by the MP's disclaimer that this was not meant to be about race but then put it in terms of “whities” and brown people. That IS race and therefore means it's racist. Is it possible he doesn't even understand that?
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