The question was asking why Justin Trudeau chose to have a cabinet of ministers that was equal men and women.
And Justin gave the reporter, in my opinion, a kick ass answer.
It is well past time women had equal representation in politics. This should have happened 50 years ago and it took until now to make it a reality.
Ever since then however I have heard men (and only men) complaining about how women don't deserve those cabinet post because they lack merit or experience or competence. I have heard it so many times, mostly on Facebook, that is annoying me to the point of frustration.
So here is the thing, those 15 women do actually deserve the jobs they've been given.
#1. Jane Philpott - Minister of Health
Why is she qualified? Philpott has been a family doctor at the Markham Stouffville Hospital since 1988. She also served as the hospitals’ chief of the Department of Family Medicine, and is an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. Note - She is the first actual doctor to hold the post of Minister of Health. Who better than a doctor to be in charge of Canada's health care? An accountant? A lawyer? A businessman?
#2. Jody Wilson-Raybould - Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Why is she qualified? Wilson-Raybould is a former crown prosecutor, and adviser at the B.C. Treaty Commission and First Nations chief. She will be in charge of the inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women, and is herself indigenous. Who better for the job than an indigenous lawyer?
#3. Carolyn Bennett - Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs
Why is she qualified? Served as Minister of State for Public Health under Prime Minister Paul Martin. So she has already been a minister before.
#4. Judy Foote - Minister of Public Services and Procurement
Why is she qualified? Former deputy house leader and former party whip. Served as a provincial MHA for 11 years, holding numerous ministerial roles. This is not her first rodeo.
#5. Chrystia Freeland - Minister of International Trade
Why is she qualified? Asides from being an economics journalist for the Financial Times and well-traveled, Freeland also speaks five languages: English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Italian. Being a polyglot economics journalist is very handy for international trade.
#6. Marie-Claude Bibeau - Minister of International Development and La Francophonie
Why is she qualified? Tourism based businesswoman from Quebec and an executive director of a Quebec museum, so she knows issues of Quebec culture and also works well for bringing tourism dollars into Canada. Please note she is not in charge of international trade, see #7 above.
#7. Mélanie Joly - Minister of Canadian Heritage
Why is she qualified? She is a lawyer, communications partner, mayoral candidate. Not her first rodeo in politics either.
And so on and so forth. You can read the biographies for all 30 new ministers at
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/justin-trudeau-s-new-liberal-cabinet-full-list-and-bios-1.2642140
My point is, the people who are complaining about that these women lack experience or the proper backgrounds for the jobs they will be doing, well, they're just being sexist.
Pure and simple sexism.
They might try and hide it and claim that they love women, that they support equal rights for women, but then turn around and claim that these women don't deserve the job because they somehow lack merit.
As if men should automatically get the job just because they have testicles and maybe some merit.
Rather here is what I think what happened...
Trudeau asked his party members what cabinet jobs they would want, anyone who wanted a cabinet post put their names on the list of available posts, and then Trudeau sat down, looked at their qualifications and built a team based on their skills, experience and other merits... And for whatever reason, they ended up being 50 / 50 or roughly 50 / 50.
And for whatever jobs that were the most concerning, he picked people who he felt had lots of experience and the right background.
Take for example the two following minorities:
Navdeep Bains - Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
Why is he qualified? Former financial and accounting analyst for years at Ford Motor Company. Economics and innovation. Also it is not his first rodeo either, he was first elected MP in 2004.
Harjit Singh Sajjan - Minister of National Defence
Why is he qualified? Former police detective and soldier. He is a highly decorated lieutenant-colonel who served three tours in Afghanistan and one in Bosnia.
Now here is why these two guys are important. They are also both Sikh. Visible minorities. Did Trudeau choose them because they are visible minorities? Or did he choose them because the one is an experienced MP who understands economics and technology, and quite possibly might be Finance Minister two decades from now, and the other is a highly decorated lieutenant-colonel who clearly knows what he is doing.
Now I haven't personally heard anyone complaining about Bains or Sajjan and saying that they are not qualified for their jobs, and even if I did, I would assume whoever is complaining is clearly a racist.
However if they were women, I bet people would be complaining about it, saying things like "Just because she is a lieutenant-colonel doesnn't mean she is qualified to be Minister of National Defence."
And other bullshit like that.
If anything it is some of the men who may not be qualified.
Like this guy:
Jim Carr - Minister of Natural Resources
Musician, journalist, Founding CEO of Business Council of Manitoba, and has been in politics since 1988. Of the first three, only business is tied to Natural Resources - and he apparently got a post as a Minister simply because he is an experienced politician. Not his first rodeo.
At which point you have to ask, what makes a person qualified for Natural Resources anyway? Being CEO of a gold mining corporation? Doesn't that really limit our options for who can hold these posts?
Canada elected 184 Liberals in October. Minus himself, Trudeau has to pick 30 people out of 183 to fill 30 cabinet postings, and he has to pick the people who are best suited for the job with only 183 people to choose from.
Chances are likely there are several people who are not qualified for the jobs they have been given. And we are not talking about the women here, but people in general.
For decades we have been giving the top jobs in Canada to unqualified men, because someone had to fulfill the role. Clearly the country did not collapse because we also have a system in place to correct any problems when people are not qualified. It is called a cabinet shuffle.
In my experience cabinet shuffles seem to happen routinely, every 6 to 9 months apart. Some people retire, some get demoted back to the benches, some people get promoted to a more prestigious ministry, and some get promoted to becoming a minister.
So how about we see what happens during Trudeau's first cabinet shuffle and see how the "game of musical chairs" plays out.
Ignoring retirements due to old age, I bet the women will fare just as well as the men do.
In the mean time please think on this phrase:
"You wouldn't be asking this question if she was a man."
No comments:
Post a Comment