Con MP Lee Richardson Keeps Digging

NDP Candidate Tyler Kinch and blogger Leftdog have already pointed out Con MP Lee Richardson's asinine comments blaming crime on immigrants. But it's worth noting that Richardson's attempt to deflect and backtrack looks no less offensive than his initial remarks.

First, there's a sad attempt to cast the blame on his constituents rather than accepting personal responsibility for his words:

When Fast Forward phoned Richardson the day after the initial interview to ask him to clarify his earlier comments, he expressed regret for what he’d said. “I just don’t want to go there at all,” said Richardson. “That is not my intention. If I misspoke, I apologize to you for that.” Richardson said he was referring to only a “small minority” of people and was reflecting what he’s heard from his constituents. “What their comments are based on is probably anecdotal — what they read in the newspapers,” he said.

But more damningly, there's also Richardson's attempt to justify the statement itself:

“I just don’t want [my comments] to be torqued out of context,” Richardson added. “We see anecdotally — and through our experiences here — the differences from the Alberta that I grew up in. And that’s the same in a lot of big cities across the country. That’s really all I was trying to say…. I regret having said that yesterday.”

So what differences are there now from "the Alberta that (Richardson) grew up in"? Well, Wikipedia lists Richardson's date of birth as being in 1947. So let's take a look at the province Richardson grew up in - let's say from 1955 to 1965, when he was aged 8 to 18 - and ask what kind of Alberta he's apparently concerned about having left behind.

Sure, there are such forms of progress as abortion rights, same-sex marriage and the like. But it's hard to be sure that any given Con actually agrees with the increased rights granted in those areas. So let's look at some factors from Richardson's halcyon days of yore which even the Cons would seemingly have to agree are far better left in the past.

After all, it wasn't too long ago that Stephen Harper apologized Canada's shameful residential school system. Which was in full swing during the time Richardson "grew up" - and presumably had an influence on the types of people Richardson would (and wouldn't) have interacted with. And for that matter, during the first half of the period in question, the right to vote was withheld from status Indians.

And in Alberta in particular, the period also spans the time when the provincial government's heinous Eugenics Board was able to forcibly sterilize "mentally deficient" individuals. Which was itself the subject of a formal apology by Alberta's Conservative government not long ago.

Now, there are doubtless many more examples of how Albertan society has changed for the better in the meantime. But what makes the above policies particularly important in considering Richardson's statement is that they came about precisely because decision-makers were convinced that extraordinary measures were required to remove the threat of a set of "others" who could cause social unrest - defined as a different society from the one they grew up in.

While Richardson presumably wouldn't advocate the same policies, his comment and clarification are plainly based in the same mindset: vilifying those who are perceived as different for the sake of clinging to a narrow, self-centric view of the world. And that kind of attitude demands a strong response before it's too late to stop another self-centred and inward-looking government from engaging in policies we'll end up regretting later.