| The
NDP leadership dust has settled and now,
as the headlines tiresomely tell us,
B.C. has the first East Indian premier
in Canadian history, Meet the ever lovin’,
ever smilin’ Ujjal Dosanjh.
We also have the first premier ever
pushed into that spot by sheer trickery,
for he would not have made it had it not
been for mass NDP membership sign-ups in
Sikh temples.
That too was a first. The Chinese
swarmed to elect Raymond Chan federally
in Richmond. But even they didn’t
parade in church to push membership
applications under people’s noses.
(They paraded in downtown Vancouver.)
There was plenty of publicity on this
but the Vancouver media shied away from
saying that what happened was racism,
pure and simple.
One wonders what ordinary NDPers
thought as the watched all those turbans
and saris doing their victory dance when
Dosanjh walked away with the top prize.
Wonders never cease, though. For
anyone who has watched the media
tip-toeing around the obvious where race
is concerned, there was an article in
the Edmonton Journal that laid things on
the line.
Lorne Gunter had this to say:
“If the meek are sure to inherit
the earth, the Sikhs seem poised to
inherit B.C. — not just a handful of
riding associations, or a nomination or
two for the Legislature, but the whole
samosa — the provincial NDP and the
government it controls.”
I was saying the same thing in print
years ago but I didn’t expect to see
such candor in an otherwise politically
correct newspaper. There it was,
however, the cloud no bigger than a
man’s hand.
To make sure readers got his point,
Gunter closed with this:
“The principal end-product of
Canada’s multiculturalism policies
will be, not universal harmony, but
intractable ethnic power-struggles in
the nation’s politics.”
How did that get past the paper’s
censors? Or has the Journal, long
leftish, taken a turn to the right?
 Then
there was a cover
story in Maclean’s magazine on Sikh
Power. Written before the Great
Event, it made the usual excuses where
ethnics are concerned, but nevertheless
conveyed the message that violence and
ruthlessness in Sikh society are major
problems.
That was no news to British
Columbians. The headlines have been
telling us that ever since extended
family reunification led to the flood
from the Punjab.
As time went on, the situation
worsened.
“Sikh temple closed after stabbing,
arrests.” (Vancouver Sun, August 24,
1998.) |
“Fearing
violence, Surrey denies Sikh parade
permit.” (Vancouver Sun, July 4,
1998.)
And so on. And on. None of which has
prevented politicians from kissing Sikh
bums for a vote.
Provincially, the NDP has grovelled
the most, being in government and
wanting to stay there. Federally, the
award goes to the Liberals. They even
supported Dosanjh’s leadership
campaign with funds. (“Party in a
furor over Liberals’ aid.”
(Vancouver Province, February 18.)
And when there’s a federal election
in the offing, the first man the
Liberals’ organizer from Ottawa meets
is Prem Vinning, who steers most of the
Sikh vote. In gratitude for multicult
and Sikh Power, y’know.
There’s little doubt that,
provincially, white Liberals will be on
their knees, too. I am told that for
starters the Sikhs have demanded three
seats in the Surrey and Delta districts.
No ifs, ands or buts. Just in case the
NDP loses out next time, see.
They act as if this were the Punjab.
Consider this can of rotten worms:
In the run up to the NDP leadership
convention, Provincial Fisheries
Minister Dennis Streifel was supporting
Gordon Wilson, who was opposing Dosanjh.
When it came to selecting convention
delegates from Mission-Kent,
Streifel’s own riding, the Dosanjh mob
moved in and took over. Many of them
didn’t even speak English, but the
ruling powers don’t care about that.
Gujarati is good enough.
Streifel wasn’t even allowed to
speak. “If you didn’t have a voice
for Ujjal Dosanjh, you didn’t have a
voice at the meeting and I find that
repulsive,” he declared. And this, let
me repeat, in his own riding.
“The actions of the Dosanjh team
infringed on freedom of speech,” he
said, adding that“the “strong arm
tactics” went right to the Dosanjh
headquarters.
Welcome to the club, sir. You are now
learning what goes on in the real world
of multicult.
At that point Dosanjh stopped smilin’
and lovin’ for a few minutes to say
that everyone involved in the campaign
should behave with dignity and respect
for others.
Sure. Just like when he renounced
mass membership sign-ups — after the
sign-ups had taken place.
Your scribe gets a little
Schadenfreude (malicious joy) out of all
this because he has been beating his
gums about minority racism for years.
Only one question remains. Dosanjh
has until June, 2001, before he must
call an election, Will rank and file
NDPers and the public at large remember
how he got to the top spot in the
province? Will they remember, as former
premier Bill Vander Zalm has stated,
that this “new” NDP is still the old
NDP?
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