Alexander: local him out
Chris Alexander may have been “mortified,” as he now claims, when he heard chants of “lock her up!” aimed at Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at a rally he spoke to on the weekend. But the former MP and Conservative party leadership hopeful sure didn’t look it.
In a video taken at the event he clearly looks amused, grinning and tapping his finger in the air to the beat as if he is conducting the crowd while they bellow their misogynistic, antidemocratic chant. Instead of stifling the crowd, Alexander appeared to be stoking their anger.
In short, he showed he’s not up to the task of leading.
Nor do his words, after the fact, make up for his actions in the moment.
Leaders need to address such attacks on the spot. Sandra Jansen, an NDP member of Alberta’s legislature, was one of many who rightly pointed out that “you need to set an example by making sure that you say emphatically that those types of behaviours are unacceptable and you need to do it there.”
Alexander isn’t being excused or supported by fellow Conservatives, either. Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose described those who were chanting as “people acting like idiots.” And Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jason Kenney said that “calling on our democratically elected premier to be ‘locked up’ is ridiculous and offensive.”
Still, even while claiming he was “uncomfortable,” Alexander continued to offer excuses for his behaviour. He didn’t interrupt because he was hearing a “lot of frustration” and people need to be listened to, he argued. But another Conservative leadership hopeful, MP Michael Chong, got it right when he compared the chants to “undemocratic action more worthy of a dictatorship than Canada’s parliamentary democracy.”
Nor did the undercurrent of misogyny go unnoticed. Federal Status of Women Minister Patricia Hajdu said the chanting amounted to “verbal violence,” and condemned the notion of any leadership contestant “inciting violence towards elected officials.”
One of the most frightening parts of the ugly U.S. election campaign was when Donald Trump led rallies in chants of “lock her up!” referring to Hillary Clinton, as if he was a dictator who intended to jail his rivals once he got into power.
It’s a profoundly undemocratic sentiment unworthy of the United States, never mind Canada. Alexander should have shut it down the moment it reared its ugly head here. But he didn’t. He let it pass unchallenged.
For a man running to be the leader of a major political party and eventually the country, he failed a crucial test of leadership. Canada doesn’t need to import Trump-style politics, and it doesn’t need politicians who don’t recognize and confront it when it appears.
—The Toronto Star
Conservative hopeful fails leadership test