Swompdonkey

Having your cake and eating it too

The Grits, who think of themselves as the party of immigrants, have made certain decisions concerning party orthodoxy -many by fiat from the PMO- that were bound to have consequences come election time.

Today's Toronto Star has an article that may indicate some of those problematic issues are now bubbling to the surface:

"People are angry at the Liberals," says Sima Zerehi, who edits the English-language section of Shahrvand, a twice-weekly paper for the Iranian community.

There are many reasons why.

Among the national issues, only same-sex marriage seems to be a consistent problem for the Liberals.

People "are very unhappy with the Liberals about that," says Latafat Ali Siddiqui, editor in chief of Canadian Asian News, a monthly that serves people from Pakistan and India.

"We have extensive coverage of same-sex marriage," says Tak Lam, news editor of the Chinese daily Ming Pao. "Asians don't feel so comfortable with that."

The irony here, of course, is that this issue, like abortion and other matters of conscience, cuts across party lines. Some Liberals oppose Same-sex marriage. Some Conservatives are in favour. Nevertheless, the Liberals are now considered pro same-sex marriage, notwithstanding Martin's rhetorical gymnastics concerning the protection of the Charter of Rights (it is said that Martin, who is nearly seventy, is actually rather uncomfortable with the issue, like many of his generation).

Did it not occur to anyone in the Liberal Party that the whole Charter thing would not fly with immigrant communities? Contrary to what the politburo might think, immigrants understand the Charter -and they value it. They certainly do not wish to see it trivialized by invoking it to protect dubious "rights" that were never really in question.

Multiculturalism is founded on respect for other cultures. The Grits may soon find out that some of their client groups' cultures include a traditional (even "religious) streak and a distate for the trivialization of one of the documents they hold most dear as Canadians.