“I got this email back, and it said, ‘As you’re probably aware, there’s been a lot going on in Saskatchewan over the past few months and we’ve been waiting for a directive,'” Remenda Swanson told The Canadian Press in an interview this week. She graduated from the high school in 1972 and now lives in Edmonton.
“It said, ‘We wish to thank you for your gracious offer. However, at this time, we are to follow the minister of education’s new mandate and must decline.'”
The author felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut, she said.
“So what’s the mandate? My book and me are banned?" she said.
What do you believe is organic to Canada (either in the provinces or nationally) and what is driven by US politics?
I’m asking because there often seems to be a lag time where US conservatives will launch a new hate campaign (eg transphobia), and it will start showing up in a significant way six months to a year later in Canadian politics. I don’t know if that’s an artifact of how the US press reports on Canadian news, or if Canadian conservatives use US politics for inspiration and ideas.
My opinion doesn’t matter since I’m not Canadian but I think us Americans tend to think we export our backwards ass conservativism to other country a lot more than we actually do. Seeeing shit like the covid trucker convoy I’d argue stupid is home grown more often then naught
There’s definitely influence. I’d say that American conservatives contribute to framing the boundaries of Canadian conservatism. There are also broad patterns. The US elects Bush, then Canada elects Harper; then Obama, Trudeau. Conservatives certainly tried to run with some of Trump’s rhetoric but it wasn’t palatable to Canadians. There’s been a big push of anti-immigration rhetoric in Canada. It’s something that at least makes sense in the US (it’s understandable, not justifiable) but is pretty absurd here. I don’t think you could call it, like, a natural law of Canadian politics though.
Neither homophobia or conservatism are imported though. This also isn’t representative of Canada generally. Only like 3% of Canadians live in Saskatchewan. In most places, this would be extremely uncool.