glocklover wrote:
There point is that a lot of the New Pakistani candidates don't have the cultural, linguistic, or historical understanding of Canadian society. Unlike many of the Indian, especially Punjabi candidates who really do get it.
I wouldn't say they are totally clueless about our society, many now come from educated gentrified strata of their home societies, and do have a grasp and certainly some kind of opinion.
The author's general point was (arguably) that first-gen sub-communities can generate candidates that act as they would back over there, and try to set up petty feifdoms within their sub-communities. They try to fly the idea that our domestic culture is either somehow not good for them, or not good ENOUGH for them, and they need to vote accordingly. It's almost like they view themselves as pioneers here, and they are working to create their own little culture bubble within Canadian society. That has certainly already happened to a large degree I think.
What this author describes is the ongoing struggle and squabbling amongs their community, as they try to come to terms with their current and future role within our society. Have a look at Brampton, for a much larger working example of this. Brampton is of course known as "Browntown", but take a look at their city council after this election. Only two people of South Asian decent (FGIs presumably); one city councillor, and one trustee. That does not reflect the population numbers, does it? Also interesting to observe: the one council win was the electorate churning one Sikh dude for another in the Ward most densely populated by South Asian voters. I wonder if that "Townhouse debacle" was the cause?
Int. Trest. Ting.
Edit: To self-correct, in reading further, it was not the "Townhouse" thing that killed Vicky Dhillon. Seems it was his apparent / perceived support of that crook Fennel, and he got sucked under when she sank. Still: Int. Trest. Ting.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
