Stay with me here, because we’re going to talk about how you can understand Canadian politics through repeated viewings of a Brad Pitt movie.
On Saturday, New Brunswick Converative MP John Williamson answered a question about the Temporary Foreign Workers Program by saying, “It makes no sense to pay ‘whities’ to stay home while we bring in brown people to work in these jobs.”
Whether you think this was more racist than stupid or more stupid than racist, let’s consider that Williamson is a fairly important Conservative figure — a former national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a former head of communications for the Prime Minister’s office.
This is seemingly terrible politics.
Unless it isn’t. Because it might not matter at all for the success or failure of his party, and that’s why we’re going to be talking about Brad Pitt movies.
I wasn’t that interested in Moneyball when it first came out, because I do not care one iota about baseball. But then I heard that it was largely about statistics and economics, and I was intrigued. (Make your nerd jokes now, it’s only going to get worse from here on in.)
The film is based on a book by Michael Lewis, and had the subtitle The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Both in the movie and in the book, there’s a mantra that comes up over and over, repeated in various ways.
“He gets on base.”
That’s all that Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s, cared about. He started picking up cheap, cheap players (because it was all he could afford) who were unwanted for a variety of reasons.
In the movie, this is dramatized in a scene in which his scouts keep trying to suggest various reasons why they don’t like his picks.
This guy’s injured. That guy’s old, past his prime. This one’s overweight, that one throws weird.
To all these complaints, there is just one answer. “He gets on base.”
So that’s how you have to understand modern politics.
Being a good legislator is a difficult skill. It requires knowledge, experience, personal diplomacy, the ability to work with others, and most importantly, wisdom.
Getting elected is a difficult skill. It requires determination, some level of charisma, and a certain ruthlessness.
It doesn’t matter how good a legislator you are, though, if you can’t get elected. And it matters very little how good you are if your party can’t win.
So, does it matter if John Williamson said something really stupid? Not necessarily. Is he in a swing riding? Does he represent a large population of new Canadians? Is he already vulnerable for some other reason?
If yes, then he could be in trouble, because this might impact his ability to get elected again. The party would look askance at him.
If no… if his constituents are fine with this or if they accept his apology, then Williamson’s superiors are unlikely to do anything.
The ranks of every party are packed with members who have said racist, sexist, homophobic, or just jaw-droppingly stupid things.
Not to mention those who have been caught out in conflicts of interest, or who have billed ridiculous government expenses.
And all the parties have members who are idealistic, dedicated legislators, who do not shoot off their mouths in idiotic ways.
But there’s one question that’s uppermost in the minds of their party leaders, come election time:
“Does he get on base?”
Matthew Claxton is a reporter with the Langley Advance
