Canadian politics
Letter to the Economist (Oct 4th 2014)
SIR – Stephen Harper and his Conservative party will have a hard time staying in power after the next federal election in 2015. This is not because of scandals and voter fatigue with the current government, or of intrinsic liberal values of Canadians, but because the Conservative movement is not aligned with the socio-demographic realities of Canada.
Among the three national political parties, the Conservatives have the lowest shares in Parliament (i.e. MPs and senators) of women (22%); French speakers (12%); and ethnic minorities (10%) in their party, in a country where the French-speaking and ethnic minorities each account for about a quarter of the population. Simply put, the Conservatives do not look (or sound) like the face of Canada.
Kai Chan
Dubai
Letter as it appeared in the Economist (online edition only).
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