Neo-conservative racist discourse: A Canadian case study

Abstract

Although racist discourse has been well documented in other countries, it has been less well documented as it occurs in Canada. William Gairdner is a well-educated member of Canada's wealthy elite who writes political and social commentaries aimed at the general Canadian public. Gairdner's views can be characterized as representing the New Right of neo-conservative end of the political spectrum, and he has had a significant influence on the development of policies in a major neo-conservative political party in Canada, The Canadian Alliance Party (formerly the Reform Party of Canada). In ways that mirror discourses that discriminate against people of colour and people of non-western-European origin in other Western democracies, Gairdner argues that so-called non-traditional immmigration should be restricted and that people who are allowed into Canada should be required to assimilate to Anglo-Canadian cultural norms. Furthermore, in a distinctly Canadian way, Gairdner demonizes the French in general and French Canadians in particular. Thus, what is referred to as racist discourse in this paper, as in critical discourse analysis more broadly, includes forms of ethnicism as well as forms of discrimination based on narrower conceptions of “race”.