Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 13, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba THINK TANK COMMENT EDITOR: RUSSELL WANGERSKY 204-697-7269 ● RUSSELL.WANGERSKY@WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A7 TUESDAY AUGUST 13, 2024 Ideas, Issues, Insights Elect women — but not just because they’re women “E LECT Women.” Not only is it a personal mantra, it’s also a phrase plastered across my favourite sweatshirt. I bought the shirt back when I was still a poli- tician and proudly wore it to community events in my constituency and on the campaign trail. Nowadays, I can be seen wearing this frayed and well-loved shirt while traipsing to yoga practice or for a mid-afternoon stroll through Henteleff Park. Electing women is a great idea and a notewor- thy cause. I believe that until we achieve parity in public office, we’re not going to see public policy attuned to and reflective of the needs of the ma- jority of people living in our democratic society. Take, for example, child care. If this area of public policy had been addressed 25 years ago in a meaningful way, we wouldn’t be dealing with the challenges of our times where families must begin planning for child care even before getting pregnant. Sure, there were women elected 25 years ago when this need started to burgeon with urgency, but they were outnum- bered by a wide margin. Public policy did not reflect societal demand because, in part, a lack of representation. Even today, women only hold between 25 and 30 per cent of elected positions in legislatures across the country and the House of Commons. Ask anyone of them and I’m sure they’ll tell you that being a minority among decision makers requires a lot of heavy lifting. Speaking from experience, it’s not always easy to cut your own path, even when it’s the right thing to do. I can point to numerous things I could have, and perhaps should have, insisted upon, yet didn’t. My hope is that the next generation of women politicians do not find themselves a minority while sitting around decision-making tables. In this way, I wear my shirt proudly and am always excited to support women on the ballot. Having said all that, do I believe women should be elected based specifically or solely on their gender? Not at all. Yes, representation matters a great deal but when I cast a ballot or decide to support a can- didate what matters most is picking someone I believe is qualified and competent and if they happen to look like me, all the better. But it’s not a deciding factor. I’m not alone in this, either. According to a team of researchers at Pew Research Center south of the border, only 18 per cent of Americans believe it’s highly important to see a woman elected as U.S. president in their lifetime. Put another way, what matters most to voters is electability over representation. Hopefully, the Kamala Harris campaign takes note and does not repeat history by allowing a gender narrative to be the lead in the story of her future electoral success, or defeat, come Novem- ber. We can all do without ever seeing a repeat of headlines from the post-Hillary Clinton era, declaring that she lost because of her gender and that America wasn’t ready for a woman president. This unfairly placed the blame for Clinton’s elec- toral defeat on all of us feminists who supposedly hadn’t done our part in breaking down barriers, as opposed to squarely at the feet of a poorly exe- cuted campaign. This time around, my hope is that Harris will offer voters an opportunity to choose a proven candidate who is not only electable, capable and competent but is also representative of women and minorities. Let her be judged, appraised, and voted into the highest office in that country based on merit, intelligence and because she’s the better candidate. Gender shouldn’t be positioned as a crowning achievement but rather the icing on a cake. Likewise, in my lifetime, I’d like to see a woman prime minister in Canada once again sometime soon. But more importantly, I want her to be someone who will flourish in principles of good governance that will earn respect here at home and abroad, to be someone to advance public poli- cy that enhances all our lives in ways that matter most, and to represent values reflective of most Canadians. When that happens, she’ll leave a legacy for future generations and a belief that women can run in elections and win because they are strong, capable and competent. Not because they checked a box and are merely an emblem representing something greater. Let her be elected because she’s the real deal. Rochelle Squires is a recovering politician after 7 1/2 years in the Manitoba legislature. She is a political and social commentator whose column appears Tuesdays. rochelle@rochellesquires.ca We have to stand with U.S. teachers PERHAPS one of the greatest pillars to a thriving democracy is the equitable access to quality pub- lic education. Through rich learning experiences, youth become empowered to actualize their full human potential and embark upon future dreams and endeavours. Unfortunately, public school teachers across the world are navigating concerted deprofessional- izing efforts as their practices are increasingly restrained, whether by community pressures or through the adoption of new legislation. These developments have become pronounced in the United States. There is no shortage of examples regarding the external control of U.S. teachers’ pedagogical practices. Recently, the state of Oklahoma ordered all teachers to incorporate the Bible into public school curricula. In Louisiana, every classroom is now required to have the Ten Commandments posted, while in Florida teachers are mandated to teach the vocational “benefits” of slavery. Across the United States, various states are prohibiting discussion pertaining to LGBTTQ+ topics, anti-racism and socio-emotional learning. The ongoing 2024 presidential election has ignited these tensions, cultivating further distrust towards teachers. Such austerity was encapsu- lated in former U.S. presidential candidate Tim Scott’s comment, “The only way we change edu- cation in this nation is to break the backs of the teachers’ unions.” And yet, U.S. teachers’ salaries, benefits and general professional status remain comparatively abysmal compared to teachers in other developed nations. Comparable perspectives were echoed by other presidential candidates, such as former president Donald Trump, who has promised to defund any public school that pushes “critical race theory, radical gender ideology and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content.” The now notoriously controversial “Project 2025” policy framework provides comprehen- sive recommendations for the next presidential administration, ranging from liquidating the Department of Education, promoting “patrio- tism” in schools, advancing private schools while defunding public education, among a wide array of reformations. Coinciding these developments is mass teacher burnout which has only become an exacerbated issue in recent years. There is mounting research documenting in- creased rates of teacher demoralization, burnout, attrition and general shortages across the world. The Pew Research Center, as an example, con- ducted a 2023 inquiry entitled What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today? The results were notably disheartening. Of the respondents, 77 per cent of teachers reported the job to be “frequently stressful,” while over half of respondents indicated they would not recommend a young person to consider the teaching profes- sion. These circumstances are not exclusive to the United States, however. The situation has become so dire that the United Nations has heeded warn- ings of the global teacher shortage crisis, noting that within this decade there may be millions of vacant teaching positions worldwide. There is an escalating apathy and hesitancy among upcoming generations to pursue a career in education. In an attempt to ameliorate this issue, various jurisdictions in the U.S. have resorted to hiring parents and/or community members without formal accreditation to teach. In the Canadian context, many public teachers face comparable professional dilemmas. There is mounting research over the extensive impacts the COVID-19 pandemic had on teachers’ sense of wellbeing, many rural communities continue to struggle to hire accredited teachers and there are various communities advancing restrictive measures (such as book banning and undermining Truth and Reconciliation initiatives). Now, more than ever, we need to support and trust our public school teachers and to stand in solidarity with our American colleagues. These struggles in the United States are not an Ameri- can issue but are rather a collective global issue. Teachers are professionals and it is time we col- lectively recognize their vital public service. For teachers to thrive, it is essential to establish school sites that are conducive to exercising voice, professional judgment and being autonomous in teaching practices. We need teachers that are capable of supporting students’ diverse academic needs, that are moti- vated to initiate school projects and are energized to oscillate among the plethora of responsibilities in which they routinely navigate. There are perhaps winds of change in the American political landscape with the recent announcement of Tim Walz as a vice-presidential candidate. The former teacher and high school football coach has adamantly campaigned on advancing public education, violence-free schools, and protecting teachers’ practices. There is hope for public teachers but education remains a highly polarized political campaign item. We must stand in solidarity with American teachers and remain steadfast in protecting pub- lic education in Canada. Jordan Laidlaw is a public school teacher, union activist and a PhD candidate in educational administration at the University of Manitoba. The adventures of Catalan’s Pimpernel CARLES Puigdemont, the self-exiled leader of the Catalan separatist movement, aspires to become the new Scarlet Pimpernel. Last week he left Belgium, where he has lived as an unwelcome guest since he led a failed attempt to secede from Spain seven years ago, and had himself smuggled back to Barcelona, the capital of the region of Catalonia. He chose this moment because a new regional coalition government was coming to power that included one of the Catalan nationalist parties. In the eyes of hard-line separatists they were traitors and Puig- demont’s duty, as he saw it, was to mock and humiliate them. His plan was to appear suddenly in Barce- lona on the day the new regional government took power. Collaborators got him safely to the city and last Thursday Puigdemont showed up near the regional parliament building, surrounded by around 40 people wearing Puigdemont masks. He gave a short speech denouncing his various political enemies, disappeared back into the same crowd of Puigdemont looka- likes, then into a car and away. By Friday, he was back in Belgium. Boldness, precise timing and a lot of luck — could this be a new Scarlet Pimpernel for our times? In the words of the song that accompanied the Scarlet Pimpernel musical, changing only the name of enemy from ‘Frenchies’ to Spaniards. They seek him here they seek him there Those Spaniards seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel! Well, yes, but could Puigdemont match the deeds of the fictional Sir Percy Blakeney, a.k.a. the Scarlet Pimpernel? Sir Percy was a rich, foppish and not too bright habitué of London clubs during the early years of the French Revolution (1792-93), but he had another, secret life. The fictional Pimpernel went back and forth between London and Paris at the height of The Terror, rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine in the nick of time. He was a master of disguise, a brilliant swordsman and a champion of justice. Just like Carles Puigdemont, a legend in his own time — or at least in his own mind. What Puigdemont did was a brave and clever stunt but it will not revive the separatist project in the minds and hearts of most people in Catalonia. The Span- ish-speaking half of the region’s population has no wish to break away from Spain and the Catalan-speaking half has lost faith that it can happen in this generation. The evidence was in last May’s regional elections. For the first time in decades, pro-independence parties did not win an outright majority. The inauguration of the resulting regional government, a coalition between a bigger socialist party and a smaller pro-indepen- dence party, determined the timing of Puig- demont’s defiant gesture. But it was merely a gesture: the new government was duly installed in power later the same day. Some places must go on struggling for independence until they win it because the circumstances they were living in were intolerable. Most of the recent examples, like South Sudan, are in Africa. In other, more fortunate places, like Scot- land, Quebec and Catalonia, independence is only an option. There is no oppression, the democratic norms are observed, even the language is not in danger — and prosperity is shared equally by the majority group and the minorities. Pro-independence movements will still arise from time to time because many peo- ple want more “meaning” in their lives and a much smaller of number of well-educated members of the minority elite see more pow- er for themselves in an independent state. Since they tend to congregate in the local media, they can persuade a lot of people they need independence. In prosperous, well-run places these are transient enthusiasms. One lost or botched referendum (Scotland 2014, Catalonia 2017) or two at most (Canada 1980 and 1995), and that generation moves on. The next generation does not pick up the torch from their parents because that’s not how generational turnover works. The subsequent generation might because it will seem like a new idea again by then. But it’s over in Catalonia for now and the world will continue to rotate in an easterly direction at the usual speed. Gwynne Dyer’s new book is Intervention Earth: Life-Saving Ideas from the World’s Climate Engineers. JORDAN LAIDLAW JOHN BAZEMORE / ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Rochelle Squries hopes U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s campaign doesn’t repeat history by letting a gender narrative take the lead in the story of her success or defeat. GWYNNE DYER ROCHELLE SQUIRES ;