last week, it was a flashback to Second World War “yellow peril” rhetoric and she was forced to resign. But there was another pearl of wisdom the candidate shared in the same speech, one that went largely unnoticed. Referring to boats of Chinese immigrants seized off the British Columbia coast, she said, “There was a realization that what was coming off these boats was not the best clientele you would want for this country.” Clientele. It doesn’t have the same xenophobic ring as “Asian invasion;” in fact, it sounds positively clinical. But it may be more dangerous, especially because it is an idea that is not relegated to the fringe of the Alliance party but lies at the very centre of the immigration debate. In rich countries like Canada, we often talk about migrant labourers as “clients,” while our country, with its public health care and reasonably healthy job market, is the product these clients would like to purchase. Since there are millions of migrants shopping around, we can carefully assess, as Granger did, whether they are “the best”
What do You think about Fences And Windows (2002)?
