Angry in the Great White North

Consider these two documents, of which I only have the Table of Contents. I've moved them to my server to prevent them from disappearing.

The first is the Table of Contents for the Policy Workshops for the Liberal Leadership and Biennial Convention. The documentation properties places the date at November 9. Here is the listing of topics for "Canadian Heritage and Identity":

74) Ending Corporate Monopoly of Public Airwaves
75) Canadian Museums
76) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
77) Protecting the Rights of Minority Communities
78) Linguistic Duality and Official Languages
79) Multiculturalism
80) Restoration of Funding to Status of Women Canada
81) Community Based Women's Organizations
82) Providing Minority Communities with Opportunities
83) Gender Parity
84) Civics - Education
85) Implementation of First Nation Land Claims
86) The Quebec Nation
87) Political Reform
88) Aboriginal Agreements and Strategies
89) "The Kelowna Accord"
90) Liberal Values
91) Amend the Voting Rules within the Liberal Party of Canada
92) Amend the Campaign Finance Rules within the Liberal Party of Canada
93) Proportional Representation

Now on November 20, the document is refined and we have the Policy Workshops to the 2006 Leadership and Biennial Convention. The new subtitle to the document is "Choices that Count". Take a look at the choices that made the cut as counting for something:

74) Ending Corporate Monopoly of Public Airwaves
75) Canadian Museums
76) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
77) Protecting the rights of minority communities
78) Linguistic Duality and Official Languages
79) Multiculturalism
80) Restoration of Funding to Status of Women Canada
81) Community Based Women's Organizations
82) Gender Parity
83) Civics - Education
84) Implementation of First Nation Land Claims
85) The Quebec Nation
86) Political Reform
87) Aboriginal Agreements and Strategies
88) "The Kelowna Accord"
89) Liberal Values
90) Amend the Voting Rules within the Liberal Party of Canada
91) Amend the Campaign Finance Rules within the Liberal Party of Canada
92) Proportional Representation

One, and only one, disappeared. Apparently "Providing Minority Communities with Opportunities" is a choice that counts for little. And for the Liberals, that is probably true, if the movement of the minority vote continues towards the Conservatives.

To me, this is better than a poll.

By hey, what about "Protecting the rights of minority communities"? Don't be fooled. That has nothing to do with ethnic minorities. I'm willing to bet that this is about the elimination of funding for the Court Challenges Program, a program sold as something to help minorities, but really a tool for social engineering by special interest groups, and missed most by lawyers:

The Canadian Bar Association deplores the federal government's decision to eliminate funding to two legal programs - the Court Challenges Program and the Law Commission of Canada - that make a valuable contribution to Canadian democracy.

"The Court Challenges Program provides a unique counterbalance to the power of the state," says CBA President J. Parker MacCarthy, Q.C. of Duncan, British Columbia. "Canadians have a Charter of Rights, and the Court Challenges Program gives them a voice to exercise their rights under the Charter in the areas of language and equality."

"The CCP gives Canadians a doorway into the legal system. For those who are too vulnerable and disenfranchised to obtain fair treatment from the system on their own, it's often the only access they have," says Parker MacCarthy.

As far as I can see, the only program dedicated to non-native ethnic minorities has disappeared from the Liberal Party policy workshop. It won't even be debated at the convention. The Liberal Party has decided that there is nothing to be gained by offering Liberal "opportunities" to these people.

Nice.