EDITORIAL: Privilege banter is academic nonsense, let's keep it that way

Article content

It’s not entirely clear what Celina Caesar-Chavannes, MP for the Ontario riding Whitby, meant when she told Conservative MP Maxime Bernier on social media to “please check your privilege and be quiet.”

Did she mean white privilege? Male privilege? Both? Something else?

Recommended Videos

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

EDITORIAL: Privilege banter is academic nonsense, let's keep it that way Back to video

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

It doesn’t really matter, because all are toxic and unacceptable suggestions coming from a federal MP.

Caesar-Chavannes was unhappy over Bernier’s comments on the recent federal budget, which cast a broad, progressive, social justice and feminist “lens” on public spending.

When Bernier suggested the budget should not be a “racialized” document but instead strive to be colour blind, Caesar-Chavannes made the “check your privilege” tweet.

MPs, and all Canadians, are constitutionally, and in every other way, entitled to free speech.

It’s acceptable to offend others.

What’s not acceptable is for anyone to be told their voice doesn’t matter because of their sex, gender or skin colour.

Caesar-Chavannes since somewhat recanted, admitting that telling Bernier to pipe down was “not cool.” But she hasn’t apologized for her toxic “privilege” remark.

The whole social justice notion of “privilege” however is increasingly creeping into the policies and political lexicon of federal Liberals.

While it has inflamed debate on university campuses and unhinged academics and left-wing activists, the divisive notion of “privilege,” what that means and how and whether society should address it hasn’t been clearly resolved by Parliament or the government.

The recent budget made clear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fully embraced identity politics as both a weapon and a political shield.

In the worst example of this, Trudeau accused Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer of Islamophobia late last year for asking a question about tackling terrorism.

Questions, in the progressive mindset, are acts of hostility, of violence, sexism and racism.

Debate, the fire intended in democracies to reveal mistakes and misconceptions, becomes evidence of ill intent.

Our PM and his caucus seem intent upon filtering every single issue and human interaction through the prism of race, sex and gender.

It will increasingly fuel divisiveness.

We are not a nation of warring groups divided by our differences.

We are a nation bonded by our tolerance and similarities.

That’s the only privilege that should truly matter.