Diverse candidates: a sample
CBC talked to three “diverse” candidates, two Black women and one queer, non-binary person.
It could be good for CDN-NDG to have a Black woman mayor, although wouldn’t she run into the same issues of authority and management that Sue Montgomery did? If the civil servants in that borough feel they are the power that actually makes the decisions and runs the borough – and that elected officials are merely window dressing that should back off and let them get on with it – it will be hard for whoever wins.
Blork 10:22 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Perhaps this is an opportunity to test the validity of that “if.”
Kate 10:29 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
For starters, it would help if the person elected mayor had their party behind them.
Jonathan 11:06 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Too bad they didn’t look at Quartiers Montréal, the borough party for Villeray St Michel Park Ex. It’s 100% women and 4 out of the 5 candidates are POCs including one openly part of the LGBTQ+ community.
It’s really awesome to see their party posters around this neighbourhood. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a diverse slate.
quartiersmontreal.ca
Tee Owe 11:15 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Jonathan – just me being picky, haven’t seen the posters, but if they’re all women and 4/5 POC then it’s not a ‘diverse’ slate. Applause for them from me (don’t have a vote), but not diverse.
Mark Côté 11:33 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Clearly “diverse” is meant in the context of our larger political system, which is mostly white, straight, and male.
MarcG 11:39 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
And there’s a lot of diversity under the ‘POC’ umbrella (in this case the ladies are Tunisian, Algerian, Indo-Caribbean, and Haitian).
NDG07 12:26 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
I imagine Projet hopes their candidate for CDN-NDG borough mayor wouldn’t have the same issues as Sue Montgomery because, unlike Sue, their candidate is not from the borough and as mayor would owe more loyalty to the party than to the borough. Like many progressive voters in CDN-NDG, I will probably hold my nose and vote for Plante for mayor because I prefer her to Coderre, but will not vote for her candidates for city council or borough mayor.
Tee Owe 14:11 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Yes I know all that and that’s why I disclaimed being picky – but white straight and male can lnclude just as much diversity as POC – only saying – yes, stilll picky, but let’s see it from all sides – true diversity would include everybody
Blork 14:21 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Tee Owe, “POC” is not a monolith, although it might seem like it to white people.
It’s not like the world is just “white and POC.” It’s white and African black and Caribbean black and American Black and east Asian and south Asian and western Asian and 100 different kinds of indigenous from all over the world, etc.
That’s a bit more diverse than the half dozen or so flavours of “white,” all of which pretty much enjoy the same privilege. Except for gingers… they are the oppressed among the whites.
(And yes, I know my POC breakdown is more geographic than ethnic, but y’all get the point and I’m not going to turn this into a two-hour exercise of looking up all the ethnographically correct labels.)
Tee Owe 15:33 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
Good, then I won’t either – nobody would win
Mark Côté 16:10 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
white men are so oppressed
mare 19:13 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
I hate, hate, hate that elections are a meat market here, with all the signs of beautifully photographed men and women. Hardly any sign tells voters what’s *really* important, the party’s and candidate’s platform. If you’re really ugly you might have a hard time getting elected.
I rode through the Lorimier district yesterday and one of the candidates had giant signs with a full body shot of herself. She could be a model selling clothes instead of empty election promises. I don’t remember her name or which party she represented, I was blinded by her beauty. I don’t think we have ballots with photos here, so you still need to remember names. Maybe that should be changed.
mare 20:43 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
(I like that there are so many women, PoC and QUILTBAG candidates, I hope a lot of them get elected.)
CE 21:13 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
@mare you’re probably thinking of Juliette Côté-Turcotte. She’s running as an independent and I’m wondering where she got the money to put up all those giant signs. It’s interesting that, as an independent without a party platform behind her, she’s basically just running on her photo.
Raymond Lutz 22:57 on 2021-10-05 Permalink
@CE, she’s not basically just running on her photo: you linked to her website… And wow, hearing Yves-Marie Abraham talking about Piketty, la décroissance et l’abolition de la propriété lucrative! Je suis charmé moi aussi! Take my money!
mare 00:09 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
@CE yup, that’s her. Thanks for the link, I browsed a bit through her website and had I lived in the Lorimier district I might have considered voting for her. So in a way those giant photos worked!
(Still curious how she is financing her campaign.)
CE 08:22 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
I meant that she’s “just running on her photo” in that her signs only have her name and photo. People might be more interested in voting for her if there was a bit of information about her platform on the signs. How many people are actually going to look up her website after seeing her sign on the street? I really hope she has a good ground game.
dhomas 08:31 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
To be fair, Plante and Coderre have nothing about their platform on their signs, either. Only photos and names.
Meezly 09:26 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
“but white straight and male can lnclude just as much diversity as POC – only saying”
david144 22:46 on 2021-10-06 Permalink
^ Why do we even care if there’s diversity? Competence and corruption have been our two top problems pretty much the entire time I’ve been alive, and there’s not a lot of evidence to show that this decreases when the elected person is gay or Arab or whatever.