Culture: Ukrainian Festival

The Ukrainian and Canadian flags preceded the Baturyn Concert Marching Band near the beginning of the Ukrainian Festival Parade in Toronto, Ontario on 18-September-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - I haven't partaken in a lot of community festivals this summer. Part of the fun of the festivals is lost when you can't afford to sample the cuisine, so I've been doing other things. However, with the end of summer just days away, I decided that I had to attend the festival in my own neighbourhood, the Ukrainian Festival that has taken over Bloor Street between Jane and Runnymede.


Children from the Desna Ukrainian Dance Company wore traditional costumes as they rode in the Ukrainian Festival Parade on 18-September-2010

My favorite portion of the festival is the parade. While light blue and yellow dominates the event with more Ukrainian culture than I see the entire rest of the year, the businesses from the Bloor West Business Improvement Area actively participate, and there is always a multi-cultural partner to the festival. This year, it was the Polish community, whose own festival had to be canceled for 2010 because of street construction on its traditional location on Roncesvalles.


Federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton walked in the Ukrainian Festival Parade on 18-September-2010

Of course, parades and festivals mean politicians, and they literally filled the stage after the parade. Amongst mayoral candidates, the diminutive Joe Pantalone walked the route and there was a significant Rocco Rossi contingent--front-runner Rob Ford's supporters were nowhere to be seen. Former Prime Minister John Turner was hosted by local City Councillor Bill Saundercook, and Member of Provincial Parliament Cheri DiNovo and Member of Parliament Gerard Kennedy wore flamboyant Ukrainian attire. The highlight in my opinion, though, was seeing Federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton looking healthy as he walked in the parade with candidate-designate Peggy Nash and then spoke to the audience at the beginning of the festival. Jack is indeed back!


Celebrity chef Ken Kostick, acting as Grand Marshall, opened the Ukrainian Festival by cutting a red ribbon in Toronto, Ontario on 18-September-2010

The Grand Marshall, though, was not a politician. Celebrity chef Ken Kostick was selected to emphasize a new focus on cuisine during the festival. Kostick happens to be from Winnipeg, the historical centre for Ukrainians in Canada. However, as even the Consul General put it, "Toronto today looks more Ukrainian than most Ukrainian cities." [I wonder how many in the audience processed the politics of that statement, a poke at Russians living in the Ukraine.] Or, as Gerard Kennedy put it, "Today, we are all Ukrainians."


A busker handed a recently-completed balloon to a child during the Ukrainian Festival in Toronto, Ontario on 18-September-2010

The Ukrainian Festival continues for one more day, Sunday 19-September-2010, in Bloor West Village on Bloor Street between Jane and Runnymede.

Politics: The Leader Matters

TORONTO, ONTARIO - A recent Angus-Reid survey on the Federal political parties in Canada has gotten relatively little attention. The headline result is hardly surprising--the Conservatives continue to hold a party-preference lead with 35%, with the Liberals trailing at 27%, and the New Democratic Party (NDP) at 19%. What's interesting, though, is that they also looked at what would happen if the latter two left-of-center parties merged (the New Liberals?)--and the results are not necessarily what one would expect, and very dependent on the leader of that new party.

On the surface, one might think that a Liberal-NDP merger would simply combine their support to create a solid 46% preference, well ahead of the Conservatives even if some modest defections from the combined party from purists took place. That isn't what would happen at all, according to the survey. If current Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff were to head the party, it would only poll at 34%, with the Conservatives up to 40%. That might sound like centrists amongst the Liberals abandoning the new party because of its history with the NDP, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

If current NDP leader Jack Layton led the new party, it would actually be ahead in the polls at 43%, leading the Conservatives at 37%, not that far from the simple combination prediction. Furthermore, the combined party is strong in much of the country in this scenario, including a 10-point lead over the Bloc in Quebec. One could make the case that this is the baseline for Liberal-leaning voters that could not stand the influence of the NDP--marking that group as only something like 2-3% of voters.

So what's going on with the Ignatieff-as-leader numbers? It's not having NDP defections because a Liberal would be leading the combined party. With Liberal Bob Rae as leader of the new party, there's a 38% tie between the new party and the Conservatives. Considering that Bob Rae has significant baggage in Ontario as a result of his time as premier and is hardly a "generic Liberal," this implies that the generic NDP defections would be less than 8% (and one would not expect them, for ideological reasons, to run to the Conservatives).

It pretty much has to come down to individual leadership. Whether because of Conservative advertising or his own actions, Ignatieff is not positively viewed by the electorate, and that clearly matters to voters more than the ideology of the party that he leads. On the other hand, Layton is apparently viewed quite positively (at least by those leaning left). I've long held that political leadership is important, and this poll seems to demonstrate that quite strongly.

While a Liberal-NDP merger or even formal coalition is far from likely at this stage, the Conservatives have to be taking note of this poll. I could imagine that we might start seeing some negative advertising directed at Jack Layton. This would be a dangerous game--Layton has publicly spoke about his ongoing battle with prostate cancer and any negative advertising would be seen as picking on a physically weakened man who is widely expected to only lead his party for one more election.

A far more interesting topic may not be who would lead a combined Liberal-NDP alliance if it formed tomorrow, but who would lead it in the future after Ignatieff, Layton, and the other current players move on. Could it be Liberal Ken Dryden? The NDP's Thomas Mulcair? There will be a search for leadership in Canada, whether for the Liberals and NDP individually or as one, as well as for a new Conservative leader someday. The country will only benefit if competent and effective leaders emerge.

Politics: Fear Has No Place in Politics

TORONTO, ONTARIO - In an interview with Peter Mansbridge on CBC Television's The National last Wednesday, New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton was asked whether he "feared" a Conservative majority in the House of Commons. To his credit, Layton wouldn't give in to the concept of fear, saying that fear was "not a term I tend to use," though he viewed a Conservative majority as something that "I'm doing everything I can to prevent." Mansbridge followed up, asking him again whether he specifically "feared" a Conservative majority, and Layton expounded on his original response, saying that a Conservative majority was "fundamentally wrong for the planet."

Of course, Layton likely didn't make this statement on principle. Historically, when voters "feared" a Conservative majority, or a Liberal majority, they have run away from the smaller parties and voted for one of the two traditionally-larger parties in hopes that they would be more likely to contain the other party. So, had Layton said that he feared the Conservatives, it would have been interpreted as a tacit endorsement of the Liberals by many voters.

Yet, Layton happened to be correct on principle--voters should never vote on the basis of fear. His statement that "I tend to say we have a better alternative. We've got a future that can be filled with hope and real change" is a much more future-looking, positive statement than telling the voter to fear not voting for his party.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that fear has no place in modern life except in circumstances of actual, immediate physical danger from a violent or potentially violent criminal. Fear evolved as an emotion to make human beings take extremely conservative (in the literal sense of that word) decisions when there was a threat to their family. Before civilization, there were many threats that could result in the deaths of the entire family if humans did not heed noises in the night or encounters with previously-unknown things in the environment, from new plant species to people from other places.

When fear is invoked, freedom of action is inhibited. The external threat intimidates the person feeling fear. The fearful person no longer cares about their own personal wishes, they simply give in to the intimidation for survival's sake. In some cases, the fearful person may instead react violently, taking overly-aggressive action in attempt to stomp out the threat instead of giving in to it. In neither case does the person act in a rational way.

Today, those reading this message live in a very different environment, a complicated society that protects its members from external threats. It may occasionally fail in these protections, usually because of political incompetence. A properly-functioning government keeps crime under control, for example, and warns its residents about impending natural disasters, then helps them recover afterward.

In this kind of society, there is really no place for fear. There is no reason to be intimidated into acting against one's personal interests, and there is no reason to lash out at a threat that is better addressed by the society as a whole. The only exception is an interpersonal criminal situation in which one's person or family is threatened by a criminal temporarily outside of the reach of the society.

Politicians do not need to invoke fear. By trying to incite fear, they are either trying to intimidate the voter away from acting in their best interest, or to cause them to lash out irrationally. Thus, any voter that sees a candidate trying to incite fear should not succumb to that fear. They should instead ask why that politician is trying to intimidate them and question their motivations.

More politicians should make statements like Jack Layton made to Peter Mansbridge last week, refusing to give in to fear and instead offering a positive alternate vision. If voters follow the positive visions, politicians will eventually stop the fear tactics, and that should be the outcome we all desire.