Canada’s parliament and its diversity problem

Canada's parliament and its diversity problem BY ASHLEY SPLAWINSKI   | JANUARY 30, 2015 Canada is widely renowned for being a 'diverse mosaic'. However, a newly released study by Kai Chan concludes that Canada's current Conservative government and cabinet are not an accurate reflection of our population. Not surprised? Perhaps it's time to contemplate the meaning of "multiculturalism" in all of its controversial glory. Why are we just questioning this now? The term 'diversity' can be used quite loosely. However, in Chan's study, it is defined through: geography, language, religion, age, gender, education, ethnicity and occupation. Chan, currently a policy advisor to the prime minster of the United Arab Emirates, stated that his motivation to study parliamentary representation was fueled by the escalating tension between Canada's Conservative government and its scientific community. The relationship between policy and science has been outlined by the Canadian Science Writers' Association (CSWA) in a statement saying that, in the past, Canada's federal scientists were encouraged to publicly discuss their research. This changed when the Conservative government introduced media policies to control communication between scientists and the public. The move to cut funding to scientific services and programs added to the scientific community's concern, resulting in…

Toronto Star article: “Parliament’s lack of diversity goes beyond race, gender: study”

January 2, 2015 Parliament’s lack of diversity goes beyond race, gender: study A study exploring the demographics of Parliament suggests a mismatch with the Canadian population that goes beyond race and gender to issues such as religion and education. Report author Kai L. Chan says a homogeneous House and Senate are likely to result in "uniformed" perspectives that do not represent the general population. By: Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter, Published on Fri Jan 02 2015 The ruling Conservatives and federal cabinet don’t look remotely close to the new Canada they represent, says a new study, which suggests there are real consequences to the lack of diversity. Kai L. Chan’s demographic study of who’s representing us in Parliament shows that the federal NDP comes closest to matching Canada’s visible-minority and gender realities, but both the House of Commons and Senate fail miserably in mirroring the diversity of Canada. “The socio-demographic biases are not without consequence as Parliament is the policy-making and political governing body of the country,” Chan writes in “Canada’s Governing Class: Who rules the country?” “When these decision makers debate the merits of initiatives, laws or policies that affect . . . women, minorities or the scientific community, the opinions of Parliament are…

Forbes online article: “Big Data and the death of passion”

October 19, 2014 Big Data and the death of passion By Shellie Karabell We live in the “information age” – perhaps too much information – and the consultants are having a field day telling us how to handle it all. “It may not be possible to overstate at this point how important Big Data analytics could be to the business world… what may look like a revolution is really an evolution,” writes David Meer, a New York-based retail sector partner at Strategy& (formerly Booz & Co, now part of PwC) in the company’s online magazine, Strategy & Business. He calls it “the next frontier of a trend toward greater data-driven decision-making that began with the adoption of mainframe computers for business use in the 1960s.” Those, you may remember, were the days of manual typewriters, mimeograph machines, and the Post Office. Meer contends that companies which can use this data in their business decisions will “significantly outperform” their competitors and enter into a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement. The missing link between being snowed under by facts and figures and the optimum output is the “high-value business questions that new sources of data and more powerful analytics can help them…

PAW: Short end of the stick

Letter to the PAW in response to: Undergraduate Yield Up, Grad Yield Down Published on October 8, 2014 Students of Asian descent at Princeton (and elsewhere in the United States) seem to get the short end of the stick on campus, as highlighted by two articles in the June 4 issue. With respect to the racial composition of the school (“Undergraduate Yield Up, Grad Yield Down”), Asians are touted by school administrators as “minorities” in order to add to the diversity count of the class. Yet it is also well known that administrators place a higher bar for Asian students in admission to college, where they have to outperform not only their minority peers on entrance examinations (by large margins) but also whites (as highlighted by the research of sociology professor Thomas Espenshade *72) to have the same chance of admission. And on campus, even though the single largest racial minority group is Asians, discussions about race, discrimination, stereotypes, etc. never seem to include them (“Student Dispatch: Encounters With Racism, Captured on a Whiteboard”); yet there are many negative prejudices that the group has to deal with. Too bad the whiteboard campaign did not include an Asian student holding a sign proclaiming:…

Economist: 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). Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2014. All rights reserved.

G&M: It starts at home

Letter to the Globe & Mail (September 18, 2014) It starts at home Twenty-plus years ago I would have been one of Hieu Ngo’s interview subjects (Young Gang Members: Their Numbers Are Increasing, But Why?– Sept. 16). The gangs described in the report are reminiscent of the groups I associated with as a teen. Although each person who has has stumbled in life as a teenager (or an adult) has a complex story, the one overriding factor that is almost universally common is the absence of human capital at home. Many of the social constructs that middle-class families take for granted – e.g. parents reading to children; discussion of life or politics at the dinner table – are largely absent from immigrant families, especially those from less developed countries. If we want to build a better society, it all starts at home. Kai Chan, Dubai Letter as it appeared in the G&M © Copyright 2014 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

Qatar Today article: “Trading with our neighbours”

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 Trading with our neighbours by Qatar TodayBy Aparna Shivpuri,"Why has the profile of intra-GCC trade remained almost constant (in proportion to total trade) over the years? We go behind the scenes to find out what’s holding back the bloc."The issue of boosting intra-regional trade within the GCC has been in existence since the Council was established in May 1981. The six GCC countries – Bahrain, UAE, KSA, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait – have implemented numerous measures to push this agenda forward. Even though trade flow within the Council has gone up, it hasn’t achieved the desired results. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in 1980 trade flows among the GCC countries were at approximately $8 billion (QR29 billion), which was about 4% of the region’s total trade with the rest of the world. By 2008, it had reached $67 billion (QR244 billion), which was equal to 6% of the total trade. According to data from the Bahrain Ministry of Industry and Commerce, at the end of 2012 intra-GCC trade was close to $100 billion (QR364 billion).According to a report by Booz & Company, the European Union’s common market generated 2.75 million jobs over a 15-year period…

Canada’s governing class: Who rules the country?

This working paper examines the socio-economic composition of Canada's Parliament. Beyond race/ethnicity and gender, we also examine the following stratifications of Canada's federal politicians: Age Education level and field of study Language National origin / immigrant status Profession (prior to being a federal politician) Religion Post secondary institution attended Tenure (as a politician) The working paper can be found here.

Toronto Star: Preserving his Canadian-ness

Letter to the Toronto Star (June 27, 2014) Preserving his Canadian-ness Re: Suppressing vote of expats latest Conservative court battle, June 24 Suppressing vote of expats latest Conservative court battle, June 24 The attempt by Minister of State Pierre Poilievre to deny long-term expats the right to vote shows a small-minded view of the world. I left Canada in 1999 after completing university to pursue doctoral studies in the United States. After graduating I have since lived and worked in Europe, East Asia, the U.S. and now in Dubai. One thing that has always been true is that I — and many of the expat crowd — have maintained strong connections to Canada while living in our host countries. (The hockey beer league in Dubai in which I play is 70 percent Canadian and we frequent the local Tim Hortons and smoked meat restaurant here.) In the digital and globalized era borders have become less relevant. Living abroad is a great experience that every Canadian should try at some point in their life if they are able to. I found that my “Canadian-ness” increased after leaving Canada as I was then able to appreciate much more how great a nation…

NYT: A fairer pay system?

Letter to the New York Times (April 5, 2014) To the Editor: Re “Can We Close the Pay Gap?,” by Deborah Hargreaves (“The Great Divide” series, Sunday Review, March 30): One of the problems of tying the pay of chief executives (or other senior management) to that of the typical or lowest paid employee of the company (such as capping C.E.O. pay to 50 times that of the median worker at the company) is that it creates incentives for senior management to artificially elevate the median pay. As Ms. Hargreaves mentions, a greedy C.E.O. could improve his remuneration by outsourcing, offshoring or even eliminating low-paid positions. A better stick to engender greater social responsibility by senior managers might be to tie their compensation to the national median income. In this way captains of industry — who hold a lot of political sway — are motivated to think about the greater society, and what is good for corporate America would also be good for the nation as a whole. KAI L. CHAN Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 31, 2014 Letter as it appeared in the NYT © 2014 New York Times Company