Even before #brownface, the 2019 federal election was always about race
A sitting prime minister who just admitted to multiple incidents of brownface, despite touting Canada’s multiculturalism and diversity on the world stage.
A Conservative leader whose candidate base includes those who align with racist and homophobic perspectives, and whom he refuses to denounce or remove.
A National Observer survey into the make up of candidates across the five political parties found that, other than the NDP, the remaining parties are not representative of Canada’s visible minority population — black, Indigenous or people of colour — which Statistics Canada finds amounts to at least 25 per cent.
The NDP clears this bar, as around 32 per cent of the NDP’s 310 candidates are visible minorities, 20 of whom are Indigenous and 22 who are Black Canadians.
Here's how the rest of the parties fare, at present, based on the candidates that have been designated on the website of each party:
•Over 20 per cent of the Liberal Party’s 316 candidates are visible minorities (14 Indigenous, 5 Black).
•Almost 18 per cent of the Conservative Party’s 337 candidates are visible minorities. The Tories have the lowest number of Indigenous (4) and Black (2).
•The Green Party is lagging behind in this regard with approximately 12 percent of their 325 candidates being not white (8 Indigenous, 5 Black).
•Of the 317 candidates nominated by the People’s Party of Canada, some 14 percent appear to be Black, Indigenous or people of colour. (Note that some 30 PPC candidates have no online presence or visibility and couldn’t be included in this calculation).
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/09/19/analysis/even-brownface-2019-federal-election-was-always-about-race
