$56 Million to 'Crack Down' on Racism

The Ottawa Citizen today has an article about the Federal government's plans to spend $56 million to get tough on racism. The impetus for this plan stems from an "ethnic diversity survey that found that roughly 18% of respondents felt they had been subjected to some form of racial discrimination." This means that 82% felt no racial discrimination, right?

So, what is our government going to do? Well, how about a tip line to blow the whistle on Internet hate sites? How that will fight racism is beyond me. The plan also calls on the goverment to work with ISPs to shut down sites that promote hatred. Is this really going to fight racism?

What's more ridiculous is that they also want to "eliminate barriers to getting jobs and promotions." This all sounds like more quotas for so-called "visible minorities." I will always prefer merit as a guiding principle.

The Ottawa Citizen article also refers to an Ipsos Reid poll that showed that 17% of respondents think that racism is on the rise. Not surprising since we are now obsessed with race. One in ten respondens said they would not welcome people from another race as next-door neighbours. I assume that means that 90% would. Thirteen percent said they would never have a relationship with someone from another race - I guess that means that 87% would.

The surveys, at least to me, indicate how tolerant Canadians are. This $56 million is just money wasted and won't change one attitude.