Kathleen Wynne: As a long-time politician I see one area where we desperately need leadership in the coming municipal elections - Toronto Star

In this moment of divisive politics and increased polarization, politicians and people in the public eye have a heightened responsibility to bring people together. 

“I always saw it as my role (as a politician) to foster trust between people from a full range of backgrounds and to do my part to encourage the vision of a harmonious, multicultural Canada,” writes former Premier Kathleen Wynne, photographed in 2018 during a campaign stop at the Sri Ayyappan Hindu Temple in Scarborough.

Kathleen Wynne was Ontario's first woman Premier and leader of the province's Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. 

In the municipal election this fall, we need to be honest about the hatred in all its forms that has been allowed to flourish across our province. We need to speak out and look to civic leaders to do the same.

Across Ontario in all 444 cities, towns, villages of all sizes, election signs are popping up. Community groups are organizing all-candidates meetings and small armies of volunteers are marching up to front doors, along apartment hallways and into community halls to canvass for candidates.

There are thousands of local issues and projects that candidates are championing. As a retired politician who served on a local school board and then for nearly 20 years in the provincial government, I can attest that the thorny problems of school funding, land use development, clean water, safe streets, public health, funding for community centres and the long list of local concerns regularly cross jurisdictional boundaries and need the co-operation of multiple orders of government to step up to craft solutions.

This is a perfect moment for all of us to think about the environment in which we raise our children and encourage our grandchildren.

A difficult subject is the rise of hatred across our communities. This is not a Toronto issue alone, of course. It is a national and international concern. It is a sad reality that presents politicians with hard choices.

As a local political actor, what is my responsibility? Can I simply stay silent on a subject that is contentious and may be technically more the purview of the federal government? What can I even do to bring communities with historical animosities together? Should I risk stirring up conflict and anger by saying anything at all?

In both my municipal and provincial political roles, I represented very diverse communities — religiously, ethnically, culturally, linguistically and socio-economically. I represented constituencies of people who had been historical enemies but who had all come to Canada to make a better life for their children. These were some of the most generous, hard-working people I have ever known. And they came from all over the world.

I always saw it as my responsibility to meet with, listen to and work to understand the full range of perspectives. I always saw it as my role to foster trust between people from a full range of backgrounds and to do my part to encourage the vision of a harmonious, multicultural Canada.

In this moment of divisive politics and increased polarization, politicians and people in the public eye have a heightened responsibility to bring people together. A responsibility to show up, speak up and name hate and pain when we see it.

Sadly, the progress on inclusion that has been made over the past 60 years in this country is at risk. We see a rise in overall acts of hate but consistently, incidents of antisemitic hatred make up 35-40 per cent of reported hate crimes in Toronto. 

One of the least productive conversations that we can engage in as a society is the relative importance of one pain over another. Hatred is hatred. It’s corrosive.

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It eats at the heart of our humanity and diminishes us all. It is the opposite of what we want for our children and their children. It stifles our ability to solve real problems. It distracts us from figuring out how to ensure that our neighbours have enough to eat, our sick and elderly have the care they need and young families have opportunities to thrive.

So, my hope in this municipal election campaign, in every corner of the province, in each of those cities, towns and villages, we will hear local leaders naming and calling out the hatred that their communities are enduring.

My hope is that we will hear those same leaders committing to working to build trust here in Canada. I don’t believe that every politician at every level of government in Canada needs to articulate full-blown international policy. That’s not their job. Their job is to stand with communities in pain and to build bridges.

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Kathleen Wynne was Ontario’s first woman Premier and leader of the province’s Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. 

Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details