CHARBONNEAU – MAGA moves north into B.C.
BC Conservative leader John Rustad. (Image: BC Hansard)
THE CENTRE-RIGHT of the political spectrum of B.C. has been hijacked by MAGA North. They espouse the extremist views held by U.S. presidential candidate Trump but with a Canadian twist.
The MAGA views in Canada are part of a big tent misinformation bunch that includes QAnon, support for Canada’s Freedom Convoy, anti-vaccine, rejection of LGBTQ+ rights, climate change denial, censorship of school materials and more.
The BC Conservatives can hardly be described as conservative.
Brent Chapman, a BC Conservative Party member elected in Surrey South, called Palestinians “inbred” and “time bombs.” He apologized only after his comments became widespread. Despite the strained apology, BC Conservative leader John Rustad didn’t disqualify him.
BC Conservative Anna Kindy, elected in North Island riding, supports organizations such as Stand United: a far-right group who have campaigned against SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity), climate change solutions, and pandemic mandates.
Stand United believes that “The Great Reset Initiative”, a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was created by a secret multinational group of global elites to seize control of the global economy and establish a “new world order.”
The leader of the BC Conservative Party John Rustad, elected in Nechako Lakes, is a prominent climate change sceptic. He openly denies the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.
Rustad wants to review school materials to ensure they are “ideologically neutral.” He thinks that the school program called SOGI 123, which focuses on LGBTQ+ inclusivity, is part of an “activist ideology,”
What next? The censorship of books?, as has happened in several American states. Those states have recently enacted laws leading to the removal of books from school and public libraries. These bans are largely driven by MAGA groups over politics they object to, sexual content, LGBTQ+, and racial themes.
I find Rustad’s censorship plans laughable, especially when it’s the flood of misinformation and disinformation from propagandists that informs him and those BC Conservative MLAs.
The BC Conservatives like to characterize sex and gender identity as radical but those issues are at the center of the Canadian political spectrum; an area now only occupied by the NDP and Green parties.
Nothing but dust remains of what was the center-right.
So strong is the pull of MAGA North that it swallows center-right candidates such as former BC Liberal Peter Milobar, elected as a BC Conservative MLA in Kamloops Centre.
Last year Milobar criticized Rustad’s participation in a far-right conference where the leader rubbed elbows with people who have extremist views. In June, Milobar said he wouldn’t cross the floor in order to stay true with his values.
I can’t help but feel that many B.C. voters who bought the BC Conservative line might later suffer from buyer remorse; that they will wake up one morning and discover what they voted for was not what they wanted.
What motivates voters to toss out established political parties is not that they are necessarily voting for MAGA North, but rather, voting against the lack of public safety, deaths by toxic drugs, the high cost of living, and the growing inequality in society where the rich are getting richer and hard working people are being left behind.
David Charbonneau is a retired TRU electronics instructor who hosts a blog at http://www.eyeviewkamloops.wordpress.com.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Arguably yes hard working people are self employed, but factually many vote NDP.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always get a kick out of Charbonneaus posts. They remind me of the old Fruit Loops columns in the KDN, though not quite as funny.
LikeLike
The Left has moved so far to the left, that now anything that smacks of what used to be called common sense is dismissed as far-right radical ideology. There is nothing progressive about self-described and, frankly, self-congratulatory Progressivism. Yes, there is an activist agenda in our schools. How else do you explain events like drag queen story time, grooming 5 year olds to think that type of activity is not only totally normal, but is to be encouraged and congratulated. Or teachers feeding Marxist ideology to a captive audience, sanctioned and encouraged by the BCTF? Be careful when you finger-point, as there are plenty of fingers pointing back at yourself.
LikeLike
As time moves on the old rightwingers likeGoldwater, Nixon and both Bushes look like wise statesmen compared to this latest batch of culls which are being elected by supposedly disenfranchised voters. Ask the people that were bombed by these previous wonderboys about disenfranchisement .
LikeLike
Please stop with the manufactured pearl clutching. Let’s get real. David is upset about a proposal by Rustad to review book content. But what about the lefties that have actually banned books?
Here is a list of booked *actually* banned by lefties in BC:
A number of books have been quietly banned from the reading curriculum for Grade 10 students at the Surrey School District based on concerns that the books are too controversial and not inclusive. The removed books are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and In the Heat of the Night by John Ball.A panel of 12 teachers decided to pull titles from the recommended reading curriculum last November.
Recall the editing of classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because the content was “too offensive”.
More books banned or challenged by VPL:
The Satanic Verses. by Rushdie, Salman. …Beloved. by Morrison, Toni. …The Kite Runner. by Hosseini, Khaled. …Maus. A Survivor’s Tale. …I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. by Angelou, Maya. …By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. by Smart, Elizabeth. …The Diviners. …The Color Purple. The Invisible Man. Catcher in the Rye.
Anyone you don’t like, from Mayor Jackson, to Rustad, to anyone that doesn’t hand out crack pipes and safe supply is a “MAGA” acolyte. You’re triggered. The MAGA paintbrush doesn’t work anymore. It’s a tired trope with no connection for reality – just how the left likes it.
Lefties have lost the ability to smell their own diapers because they’ve been wallowing in them for so long. Or written another way, lefties have an incredible capacity to criticize others while ignoring their own, often worse, actions.
LikeLike
The Surrey school board has not “banned” any of the four books mentioned, nor have they been removed from school libraries, as stated in your mistaken diatribe, they’ve simply been taken off the recommended reading list, in large part due to racist language and cultural insensitivity.
“Young people who are Black, and other IBPOC youth, will not be asked to read the “n-word” over and over to get through an assigned text.
It is a fact that we live in a multicultural and multi-racial society. It is a fact that Surrey schools are multi-cultural and multi-racial as well. In such schools, and in such a society, we must learn to accommodate one another. Surrey’s decision about these four texts is what that accommodation looks like. The district should be credited for accommodating by listening to differences, sharing space on classroom book shelves, and for not denying anyone’s wish to read — or not read — these books. This is no book ban and this is not censorship. It is merely what a functioning, diverse community looks like.” (Jason Ellis, associate professor, department of educational studies at the University of B.C.)
LikeLike
Banning books is usually followed by burning people in ovens. Right wing usually throws out pearls of wisdom without any evidence. This is a form of GIGO Education, which is usually a result of lack of understanding where real education lies. Board of education usually react to right wing attempts to implement a religious agenda however, liberals have been known to ask for removal of certain books as wee. Liberal auction was usually associated with racist content while conservative was based on ideological, thinking and religious dogma. Charter of Rights and Freedoms made a stop to this conservative agenda.
LikeLike
Arguably true “hard working” people are self-employed and typically don’t vote NDP nor Green…just helping in clearing the fog of misinformation.
LikeLike