The National Post published on October 20, 2024 an opinion piece entitled, The NDP fought dirty. I wish John Rustad had fought back. http://Amy Hamm: The NDP fought dirty. I wish John Rustad had fought back.The author, Amy Hamm, like so many pundits these days, spent a great deal of effort and energy crafting assertions that come from pure emotion, with little reason or facts to back up the assertions.
What the author got right was John Rustad’s lack of interest in women’s sexual health. It will be interesting to see if he reveals himself to be, dare it be said?, progressive on the matter or a dinosaur.
Moving on: once we push our way through the thicket of creative but sterile statements the author has seven assertions from which the emotions arise: homelessness, housing, harm reduction, crime, the economy, children’s minds, and divisive identity politics.
Every one of these comes with adjectives that are unproven and purely the opinion of the author. Where are her facts, interviews with persons affected, papers etc?
We are:
1) ‘tired of rampant homelessness’
I’m certain most jurisdictions across Canada and around the world are ‘tired’ of the phenomenon because every province and many countries are struggling with the issue. Because it is a world-wide phenomenon, it seems there are a) underlying causes that are universal and b) using the term ‘rampant’ in order to excoriate the current party in government for the problem is a simple appeal to emotion and not facts. As such, the comment is useless as a starting point for dialogue to find ways to minimize the crisis and help the citizens who are trapped in homelessness. I am particular concerned that the opinion may include, or at least encourage unfounded negative judgments of homeless citizens.
2) ‘unaffordable housing’
Yes, this is a major problem. However, it too is a problem all across Canada and around the world. Blaming one leader and one party is simplistic.
3) ‘harm reduction failures’
Of which failures is the author writing? She does not identify which ‘failures’ she has in mind. However, perhaps she has in mind the recent decision by the BC Government to try decriminalization of small amount sof cocaine, and then reminded that decision. For whatever reason, it did not ‘work’. But before it is called a ‘failure’ let’s ask the question about why it didn’t work and then ask what can be done to address the issue.
4). ’public crime and disorder’
Please. This is a tiresome trope in the conservative play book. Usually it gets Brough out of a bag of hackneyed verbal toys to pull on peoples emotions, with the assumption that crime is a out of control and the sky is falling. Do pundits belief the trope or are they too lazy to get the facts? The fact are the following.
Questions not considered: What crime? Non-severe or severe? Adult or youth? In all of BC or in some towns and cities? Drugs, theft, white collar? Property and what kind? Civil or criminal? Etc. Crime as a whole in BC and in Canada is decreasing. “In 2022, BC’s police-reported crime rate (excluding traffic) decreased by 1.6%, from 74.8 to 73.7 offences per 1,000 population.” In 2021 there were in BC 15.3 violent crimes/1000 persons while in 2022, that rate was 15.3. The property crime rate in 2021 was 42.2/1000 and in 2022 it was 41.9. And Canada is ranked #1 for 2024 as the safest country in the world. So much for this antique trope.
5) ’a health-care system on the brink of collapse’
This is another (part-) trope. It is unnecessarily dramatic to state that the health system is ‘on the brink’. In fact, pundits in Canada having been saying this for years, usually in an effort to scare citizens and then move us to a point where we will allow more significant privatization into the health system. It is also dramatic to state the phrase as if only BC’ s heath care system is threatened. Provinces have been constantly advocating to Ottawa for more funding and recently had some. There are, however, key improvements that can be made, without allowing for an expansion of for-profit health measures. Criticize Ottawa and the provinces on true data instead of wasting energy and breath on irrelevant emotional drama, another example of trying to scare people.
6) ’a lacklustre economy’
Canada’s GDP in 2023 was $2140.08 billion $US), the tenth largest in the world. Each Canadian’s share of GDP in that year was $53,372 US dollars/person. British Columbia’s GDP for 2023 was $304 billion (minus inflation), the second highest after Ontario. “Looking back to 2019 before the pandemic, B.C.’s GDP has grown 9.5% [includes of course the effects of the pandemic and the associated inflation phenomenon, another world-wide event] in four years, or by $26 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.” Canada’s economy suffers from the usual ups and downs of normal financial processes, hardly ‘lacklustre’.
7) ’government behaving as though our children’s minds belong to the state’
I do not understand what the author means by this. Perhaps the phrase would be immediately understood by others who share whatever emotional (again no facts are given) reaction is manifesting itself here. I think the author is concerned about issues around gender identity among children and youth. If so, the fact the author simply shouts out this phrase without facts, or referencing events that point to what is of concern for her or interview enough parents and health professionals and professions in the education system, then it is irresponsible to do so. It may even be harmful to persons directly involved with this matter (children and their parents).
But, let’s look at some facts. In the 2021 Canadian census, approximately .033% of respondents identified themselves as transgender (the first time this category was included). In 2019 one study found that of youth aged 12-17 0.2% were non binary and 0.2% transgender. Governments do not separate children from parents over identity disputes. It is slander to state this as ‘fact’. Children who identify as transgender at a young age retain the affirmed (when young) gender when they reach adulthood. In fact, most children identify their sexual nature by the time they are three years old, and do not change later. In BC, as the gender-diverse youth debate continues, by adults, in some schools their safety is increasingly at risk.
What these facts refute is the assumption that ‘governments are trying to take over the minds of children’ or manipulating them and their parents. There are few true trans-gender young people and adults in society-for that reason alone their rights need to be protected from what seems to be a widespread but thin group of persons who are reacting emotionally to the issues around sexual identity, rather than pointing at facts. What needs to be affirmed is the need to reduce stigma, help transgender and gender-diverse children to become resilient and confident in themselves and also help reduce the anxiety of parents who love them by considering facts. In an interesting and timely article by Andrew Hawthorn, a CBC journalist, he points out another embarrassing, for those who are emotional but not focused on facts, is that children in the past have often been used as a means of pushing back at the development of human rights. If so, this latest surge in emotional ranting without inconvenient facts another example of being on the wrong side of history.
The author says that the NDP government in BC and the Liberals is Ottawa have been engaging I ‘divisive identity politics’ and says no one likes to be called ‘racists, anti-vaxers, bigots, homophobes, and conspiracy theorists.’ This is where -guess what?-facts are necessary. If Mr. Eby and other NDPers describe some of their opponents this way, then it is an opportunity for those so described to stand up and out to say whether the description is accurate. If it is not, then how did Mr. Eby get it wrong? If the descriptions are accurate but someone has changed their opinions, then let those persons so state their, as the author says in another context, ‘come to Jesus moment’ and move on.
A little twinkle about Mr. Rustad in this respect. He has said frequently that if he becomes premier he will fire Bonnie Henry, the Provincial Health Doctor who helped guide BC through the pandemic. During the pandemic she was threatened: she even had to have bodyguards run with her during a 10K event. So, why does Mr. Rustad think she deserves to be fired? Can it possibly be that Mr. Rustad harbours opinions that have been unearthed by the NDP amongst his colleagues? It should also be noted that Mr. Rustad and the leader of the federal conservatives have done their fair share of bitter emotional mud-slinging and attack. Spare us, please, from further statements of this kind; that only one party and only one leader behaves at times with less decorum that they should, leaving unsaid the facts that their opponents do precisely the same thing.
A last note: what in the world did the author mean by this phrase: “British Columbians faced a choice: would we allow the perfect to be the enemy of good, and refuse to usher in a new Conservative government?”
Endnotes
- Amy Hamm: The NDP fought dirty. I wish John Rustad had fought back
- Crime Statistics in British Columbia, 2022 (gov.bc.ca)
- https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/criminal-justice/police/publications/statistics/bc-crime-statistics-2022.pdf; Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in British Columbia (statcan.gc.ca)
- https://www.cicnews.com/2024/01/canada-ranked-as-worlds-safest-country-for-travel-in-2024-0142569.html#gs.h41q04;https://chaudharylaw.com/canada-ranked-as-the-worlds-safest-country-for-travel-in-2024; https://www.canadim.com/blog/safety-in-canada-five-factors
- https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2023/06/government-of-canada-delivers-additional-2-billion-canada-health-transfer-payment-to-provinces-and-territories.html
- chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.cfpc.ca/CFPC/media/Resources/Health-Policy/HPGR-FP-Reform-Policy-EN.pdf. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.cfpc.ca/CFPC/media/Resources/Health-Policy/HPGR-FP-Reform-Policy-EN.pdf
- https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/gdp. See also, https://www.worlddata.info/america/canadaeconomy.php#:~:text=Worldwide%20gross%20domestic%20product%20in,is%20currently%20at%20rank%2010
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Canada
- https://www.worlddata.info/america/canada economy.php#:~:text=Worldwide%20gross%20domestic%20product%20in,is%20currently%20at%20rank%2010
- chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/data/statistics/economy/economic-other/gdp_by_industry_2023.pdf
- chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/data/statistics/economy/economic-other/gdp_by_industry_2023.pdf
- Over 100K people are transgender in Canada, 2021 census shows – National | Globalnews.ca
- Gender identity and sexual attraction among Canadian youth: findings from the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, HPCDP: Vol 43(6), June 2023 – Canada.ca.
- PolitiFact | Canadian government doesn’t separate children from parents due to gender identity disputes
- Most kids who identify as transgender at a young age retain their affirmed gender, study finds | CBC News
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/children-and-gender-identityart- 20266811#:~:text=Most%20children%20between%20ages%2018,time%20they%20reach%20age%203.
- B.C. election: Debate over the rights of gender-diverse youth continues as their school safety declines.
- Five Reasons Why Government Should Be Involved in Raising Kids – Ideas Matter; Research | Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre (SARAVYC); An affirming approach to caring for transgender and gender-diverse youth | Canadian Paediatric Society
- What we talk about when we talk about thinking of the children | CBC News