Maxime Bernier to Liberal MP: 'You think the world revolves around your skin colour'
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BONOKOSKI: Mad Max’s dustup over a Liberal MP’s skin colour comments
Mark Bonokoski
More from Mark Bonokoski
Published:
May 28, 2018
Updated:
May 28, 2018 4:58 PM EDT
Quebec member of Parliament Maxime Bernier rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept.28, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)
When he was running for the leadership of the federal Conservatives following the post-election resignation of Stephen Harper, Quebec MP Maxime Bernier invited Canadians to call him Mad Max — “like in the movie.”
Bernier said such a moniker wasn’t seen by him as an insult, and while he wasn’t as wide-eyed and dangerous as Mel Gibson’s character of Mad Max Rockatansky, he was nonetheless mad about a lot of things.
As he wrote on his Facebook page at the time, “It’s true. I am mad!”
“I’m mad about government waste,” he explained. “I’m mad about government borrowing money on the back of future generations to benefit big corporations.
“I’m mad that the Liberals are running our country’s finances, and our nation’s future into the ground.
“I’m mad that the Liberal government shrinks our paycheque with high taxes and takes away our freedom.
“I’m mad about the federal government constantly meddling in provincial jurisdictions, and I’m mad at politicians who promise anything to get elected.
“So, yes, you can call me Mad Max.”
When Bernier lost the leadership race to Andrew Scheer, he all but engaged the mute button, but broke out over the weekend to again chastise a rookie Liberal MP from Ontario named Celina Caesar-Chavannes for thinking “the world revolves around (her) skin colour.”
This was bound to create some uproar, of course, Caesar-Chavannes is a black woman, and Maxime Bernier is neither.
What rubbed Bernier the wrong way was apparently a recent feature in the Globe and Mail on Caesar-Chavannes, a 43-year-old married mother of three and holder of two MBAs, who won the seat in Whitby that had been previously occupied by the late Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty.
Judging by the article, Caesar-Chavannes did not have to be baited into dropping the race card. She threw it down.
“Systemic racism exists,” she told the Globe, citing a statistic that less than 5% of CEOs are non-Caucasian women.
“You can’t find a woman of colour to run your organization?” she asked, rhetorically. “Mmm. Interesting.”
What purportedly triggered Bernier to head to his Twitter account to do a bit of public dissing was the Globe writer indicating Caesar-Chavannes “focuses less on policy and more on personal issues.”
In his tweet to Caesar-Chavannes, which more than suggested she was lax at her job, Bernier doubled-down on his criticism.
“You think the world revolves around your skin colour,” wrote Bernier. “My goal is to bring better policies to all Canadians. That’s an MP’s job.
“That’s the main difference between us.”
To which Caesar-Chavannes replied, “I deal with policy every day. Debating @OurCommons, asking questions & poking holes in the CONs weak positions.
“Unlike you, however. I can focus on policy while also shifting the status quo and increasing awareness,” she added.
“That’s what happens when you #AddWomen. We get more done.”
This, of course, was not the first set-to between the two.
Back in March, ire was raised after Bernier criticized the Trudeau Liberals’ decision to allocate funds for programs designed primarily to assist Canadians with minority backgrounds.
This was when Caesar-Chavannes suggested Bernier “check his (white) privilege (at the door) and be quiet.”
While she later apologized to Bernier for telling him to keep his trap shut, she wasn’t about to let it pass that Bernier, a white male, will never know what it is like to “live with colour.
“You sit there are say you don’t see it,” she told Bernier via the Globe. “Well, good for you, because you’ve never had to experience it, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart? This did not go down well with Bernier.
“By the way, I am not your ‘sweetheart,’’ he tweeted.
Good to know, right?
markbonokoski@gmail.com
http://theglobeandmail.com/politics...r-chavannes-on-racism-and-privilege-in-canada
BONOKOSKI: Mad Max
Mark Bonokoski
More from Mark Bonokoski
Published:
May 28, 2018
Updated:
May 28, 2018 4:58 PM EDT
Quebec member of Parliament Maxime Bernier rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept.28, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)
When he was running for the leadership of the federal Conservatives following the post-election resignation of Stephen Harper, Quebec MP Maxime Bernier invited Canadians to call him Mad Max — “like in the movie.”
Bernier said such a moniker wasn’t seen by him as an insult, and while he wasn’t as wide-eyed and dangerous as Mel Gibson’s character of Mad Max Rockatansky, he was nonetheless mad about a lot of things.
As he wrote on his Facebook page at the time, “It’s true. I am mad!”
“I’m mad about government waste,” he explained. “I’m mad about government borrowing money on the back of future generations to benefit big corporations.
“I’m mad that the Liberals are running our country’s finances, and our nation’s future into the ground.
“I’m mad that the Liberal government shrinks our paycheque with high taxes and takes away our freedom.
“I’m mad about the federal government constantly meddling in provincial jurisdictions, and I’m mad at politicians who promise anything to get elected.
“So, yes, you can call me Mad Max.”
When Bernier lost the leadership race to Andrew Scheer, he all but engaged the mute button, but broke out over the weekend to again chastise a rookie Liberal MP from Ontario named Celina Caesar-Chavannes for thinking “the world revolves around (her) skin colour.”
This was bound to create some uproar, of course, Caesar-Chavannes is a black woman, and Maxime Bernier is neither.
What rubbed Bernier the wrong way was apparently a recent feature in the Globe and Mail on Caesar-Chavannes, a 43-year-old married mother of three and holder of two MBAs, who won the seat in Whitby that had been previously occupied by the late Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty.
Judging by the article, Caesar-Chavannes did not have to be baited into dropping the race card. She threw it down.
“Systemic racism exists,” she told the Globe, citing a statistic that less than 5% of CEOs are non-Caucasian women.
“You can’t find a woman of colour to run your organization?” she asked, rhetorically. “Mmm. Interesting.”
What purportedly triggered Bernier to head to his Twitter account to do a bit of public dissing was the Globe writer indicating Caesar-Chavannes “focuses less on policy and more on personal issues.”
In his tweet to Caesar-Chavannes, which more than suggested she was lax at her job, Bernier doubled-down on his criticism.
“You think the world revolves around your skin colour,” wrote Bernier. “My goal is to bring better policies to all Canadians. That’s an MP’s job.
“That’s the main difference between us.”
To which Caesar-Chavannes replied, “I deal with policy every day. Debating @OurCommons, asking questions & poking holes in the CONs weak positions.
“Unlike you, however. I can focus on policy while also shifting the status quo and increasing awareness,” she added.
“That’s what happens when you #AddWomen. We get more done.”
This, of course, was not the first set-to between the two.
Back in March, ire was raised after Bernier criticized the Trudeau Liberals’ decision to allocate funds for programs designed primarily to assist Canadians with minority backgrounds.
This was when Caesar-Chavannes suggested Bernier “check his (white) privilege (at the door) and be quiet.”
While she later apologized to Bernier for telling him to keep his trap shut, she wasn’t about to let it pass that Bernier, a white male, will never know what it is like to “live with colour.
“You sit there are say you don’t see it,” she told Bernier via the Globe. “Well, good for you, because you’ve never had to experience it, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart? This did not go down well with Bernier.
“By the way, I am not your ‘sweetheart,’’ he tweeted.
Good to know, right?
markbonokoski@gmail.com
http://theglobeandmail.com/politics...r-chavannes-on-racism-and-privilege-in-canada
BONOKOSKI: Mad Max
Yes, that's why none of the PCs want to back him up and he's running away from this now.
This party is a complete disaster.
This party is a complete disaster.
I'm a French Canadian and I oppose the linguistic privileges that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has imposed onto me against my will. If you read the Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Book I, you'll notice that official bilingualism was raised on the ideological foundation of 'two founding races.' Looking at it that way, official bilingualism is an extremely discriminatory policy. Studies even show a correlation between a knowledge of the official languages and income, making it clear that the policy does have real-world consequences for unofficial language communities.
I actually find it ironic that a politician who sits in the party most favourable to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms should lecture people about white privilege while supporting the imposition of our privileges onto us against our will.
You have a point there. From my experience, most social justice warriors are either whites or non-whites born in Canada. She's somewhat of an anomaly in that she's born outside of Canada. Most foreign-born Chinese I know just don't have the time for that kind of identity politics, and they make up a large part of the Toronto electorate.