Vincent J. Curtis
21 Sept 22
RE: We’re slipping backwards on gender parity. Op-ed by Shari Graydon, the “catalyst and CEO” of Informed Opinions, a Non-Profit branch of Power Campaign aims to inspire concrete actions on increasing women’s political representation in Canada. The Hamilton Spectator 21 Sept 22.
Who hasn’t watched waves lapping at the beach? The water runs up, then it runs back. Shari Graydon thinks that Mexico is more democratic than Canada because Mexico has hobbled democratic choice in that country to ensure that woman have quota in government decision-making. Canada lets its electorate decide who represents them with minimal restrictions on candidates to choose from. So, if you take as a fundamental measure of democracy the proportion of women in elected office, as Graydon does, then Canada falls behind Mexico in terms of democracy - because our choices are freer!
I know this sounds crazy, but democratic election means putting the person with the most votes into office. But, to the fever-swamps of progressivism, that’s not what democracy means. Sometimes more women, sometimes fewer get elected, depending on the candidates, their policies, and the mood of the electorate. But that’s not the way democracy is supposed to work!! And that’s why Canada is falling behind Mexico in terms of democracy – because gender parity is not accounted for in Canada. We don’t have quotas for women, or anyone else: gays, Muslims, Indigenous, Blacks, Sikh, or what have you – because quotas restrict democratic choices.
It should be clear that a quota system, and that’s what legislated gender parity is, is antithetical to true representative democracy, and there’s no principled place to stop with quotas.
Graydon’s piece is another example of the
use of shame to coerce people into accepting her views: you’re a bad person if
you don’t.
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I guess every constituency should have one male and one female representative. Then the LGTBQ people will say they are not represented. Can’t satisfy everyone.
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