Two interesting developments in the lives of Mississauga's two newest MPs.
First, The Hill Times, which deals exclusively with matters in federal politics, published a piece by Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland.
Holland, in his article published earlier this month, asked the question, "Why are my two best friends, Bains and Alghabra, hyphenated MPs?"
By hyphenated MPs, he means the terms Muslim-MP and Sikh-MP, for Mississauga-Erindale MP Omar Alghabra and Bramalea-Gore-Malton MP Navdeep Bains, respectively.
Holland goes on to explain what he has witnessed over the past year.
"When Nav and Omar organize, it’s ethnic politics; when I organize—I’m just a good organizer. When Omar or Nav express concerns about anti-terrorism measures or foreign policy it’s because of their ancestry or religion; when I question it, either I’m debating hard choices or I’m caving under the pressure of their ideological interests."
It's an interesting article, and it's a topic both Alghabra and Bains have candidly discussed before.
Of course, others have discussed it to.
Covering a Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board meeting earlier this year, Alvin Curling, the first Black speaker of the Ontario legislative assembly, said he felt considerable pressure as an MPP.
Not only was he representing himself when he stood to speak or to vote, but he was representing every black person in Ontario. His actions spoke for all of them.
It is an unfair amount of pressure, and it's something white representatives don't need to deal with.
Of course, it should also be mentioned that women have to go through the same thing Alghabra and Bains do. Whether to a lesser extent or not is arguable.
I would argue it's probably not quite as bad for females as it is for ethnic minorities.
Standing up for women is easier than standing up for Sikhs or Muslims. More people doubt the motives of Sikhs and Muslims, even in Canada.
One hopes there will come a day when all our representatives are simply MPs, not Sikh-MPs or Muslim-MPs.
Then, as we do with all MPs, we can question their motives and competency equally, regardless of creed, colour, religion or sexual orientation.
Secondly, on the same note, The Globe and Mail's Campbell Clark wrote today that Alghabra and Bains, along with former Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy, have served libel notices on the National Post.
The Post ran a column that "asserted that the MPs struck a deal to bring sizeable delegations of Sikhs and Muslims to help elect Mr. Kennedy as Liberal leader if he would oppose two sections of the anti-terror act."
This information came from a "well-informed source," according to the editorial.
Should be interesting to follow.