Toronto Mayoral Election

Faith Goldy.

The Toronto municipal elections are tomorrow. The mayoral race looks dull: incumbent John Tory is way ahead of his closest challenger, Jennifer Keesmaat.

The only source of interest is Faith Goldy, a challenger who registers way down in the polls; because she is being shut out of debates, her campaign ads being refused by local media, and her lawn signs being torn down. This is because, everyone says, she is a “white supremacist.”

There are several issues here. This first is that you cannot have a democracy if you do not allow everyone to be heard. Simply on this basis, if I were in Toronto, I would vote for Faith Goldy. It is of overriding importance for the health of our democracy, so long as she is being denied a platform. And given that the result is a foregone conclusion anyway.

Not being allowed to hear her positions, we cannot judge whether she really is a “white supremacist.” The term is currently thrown around unjustifiably: anyone you disagree with can be called a “racist” or “white supremacist” now. If she is, I would oppose her on those grounds; discriminating on the basis of race is immoral and nonsensical. There is no such thing as a “white race” in the first place.

But there is a third consideration. One cannot oppose “white supremacy,” and at the same time endorse “black supremacy,” or “aboriginal supremacy.” Otherwise, it is you who are the racist. If Goldy is saying nothing that would be objected to if “white” were replaced by “black,” or “aboriginal,” and it were said by some indigenous rights group or by Black Lives Matter, then she is the one being discriminated against.

I suspect that is the case here.