Reconciliation with Indigenous people is inseparable from resource development – by Brian Lee Crowley (National Post – April 2, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

Indigenous people don’t need eco-colonialist governments, urban dwellers and international celebrities to tell them what jobs they are ‘allowed’ to develop

No one will be more aware than the candidates for the leadership of the party that the Conservatives have an image problem. It can be summed up in one word: mean. Too many Canadians think that the Tories are flint-hearted.

The British Conservatives faced a similar challenge. Facing an opposition known popularly as “the nasty party” helped give Tony Blair a record run as Labour prime minister.

But the British Tories recovered by defining a distinctive response to social challenges such as poverty, housing and social mobility. The political payoff has been tremendous, as the Tories articulate and act on smart ideas about how to use the power of markets and the state to improve the lot of the least well-off.

A Canadian Tory party wishing to burnish its compassion credentials might well want to start with the shocking conditions in which far too many Indigenous Canadians still live.

For the rest of this article: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/brian-lee-crowley-reconciliation-with-indigenous-people-is-inseparable-from-resource-development