本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Sliming of Tory a typical campaign crock
Calgary Herald
Friday, September 26, 2008
In the latest campaign sliming, Calgary Centre incumbent Lee Richardson is accused of being an anti-immigrant racist -- a bizarre allegation against a man who does more for immigrants than any federal politician in the city.
In an interview with a Calgary weekly newspaper, Richardson is quoted as saying that immigrants don't have as much respect for the law. "Look who's committing the crimes," he said. "They're not the kid who grew up next door."
Richardson now says he was talking about youth gangs and recent shootings, not immigrants and crime in general.
But Liberals and New Democrats instantly demanded his resignation and tried to paint the whole Conservative party as anti-immigrant, still seething with Reform Party prejudice.
It's a typical campaign crock. Richardson has always been a moderate Conservative of the Peter Lougheed school -- a Red Tory, as they used to say -- who opposed the wilder elements of the Reform movement.
Richardson is as close as you get, in Stephen Harper's Conservative party, to a sophisticated, wine-sipping, tolerant urban politician. Like that style or hate it, he's no racist.
Here's what former Premier Lougheed says about Richardson, who worked with him in Edmonton and Calgary from 1974-83.
"That's completely false. There's no foundation to it at all. I've worked with Lee over many years and I know from his statements and his actions that it's not the way he thinks."
The allegations also surprised Henry Mandelbaum, from Colombia, whose family's Canadian citizenship approvals were expedited by Richardson's office.
"He helped us so much when we had long delays in getting our citizenship," Mandelbaum says.
"Anything they say about him like that is not true. I'm shocked to hear anybody say that about him."
Richardson employs an assistant who spends most of her time solving problems for immigrants.
This week alone, Robyn Turner tells me, she sent questions on behalf of applicants to the Canadian embassies in Kenya, Egypt, Pakistan, India, China and the United Arab Emirates.
"He's not a racist!" says Turner. "Lee gives me free rein to do as much as I possibly can. We have even gone before the federal court and immigration tribunals to support applicants."
Appalled by the article, Richardson says:
"I was talking about the youth gangs in the city -- the people doing the shooting. The article made my views seem general about all immigrants and all crime.
"Look, my office and my personal efforts are broadly known in the immigrant community in Calgary.
"I get the majority of immigration calls in the whole city, more than any other MP. We deal with them because we care and we have the expertise."
Ward 8 Ald. John Mar, of Chinese descent, supports Richardson.
"Lee has been representing Chinatown for years as MP," Mar says. "He has a lot of friends in the Chinese community, including my father, Allan Mar. He represents the very best of Calgary in terms of support for multiculturalism.
"He is not a racist or a bigot, and anybody who knows him knows that."
Mar sits on Richardson's riding board and sports a big Conservative campaign sign on his lawn.
Richardson's accusers surely know he's not hostile to immigrants, if they know anything at all about Calgary.
But the goal here isn't to take down Richardson, who's virtually unbeatable in the riding anyway. The hope is to create a national furor that hurts the Conservatives in immigrant areas elsewhere.
As usual in this campaign, the truth has nothing to do with it.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
