Alex Kvaskov | News Editor
Featured image: Former American congress reminds York students that the upcoming US election effects you. | Courtesy of Gage Skidmore (Flickr)
York welcomed two former American congressmen to share analysis and perspectives on the American federal election, hosted as part of McLaughlin College’s “Lunch Talk” series of events and the Congress to Campus program.
Democratic Congressional Representative Martin Lancaster says the Canadian and American economies are so inextricably linked that it’s inevitable that anything happening in the United States will impact Canada.
Lancaster comments on low youth-voter turnout in Canada and the United States. “The reason that social security has been protected and [that] there have been so many programs focused specifically on senior citizens is because those folks vote. And the kind of positive impact that could be possible for students and young people are not happening because they’re not voting,” he says.
Republican Congressional Representative Steven Kuykendall says youth participation is likely higher in the Middle East. “You better get involved if you want [the killings] to stop. Around here, quite frankly, all we’re gonna do is give you a wonderful college to go to and you’re probably not going to worry where your next meal is coming from,” he says.
The congressmen spoke briefly about the election, with Kuykendall confessing he finds himself in a hard spot, not wishing to vote for either major party candidate. Lancaster says one reason to vote for Clinton is to see whether the recent crop of female leaders like Angela Merkel, Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon can succeed where men have failed.
On the other hand, Trump’s support may not be a lasting phenomenon, saying that it will be interesting to see whether Trump’s voters flame out as quickly as Obama’s did.
Kuykendall says he is not voting for Trump.
“I’m a Republican; I like free trade; I like business pragmatism,” he says. Kuykendall adds that the United States will not benefit from restricting immigration because it helps renew their workforce.
Amid concerns about immigration in Canada and across the Western world, education remains one of the best ways to successfully integrate immigrants, according to Kuykendall. “You go to the second generation of any immigrant and there are very few who aren’t fully integrated into our system. You have to work hard to not be fully integrated by that period,” he says.
Kuykendall characterizes immigrants as strong performers regardless of their country of origin.
Third-year computer science student Alex Shchupak, who attended the event, regrets the lack of political diversity at the luncheon.
“I expected the two former congressmen who came to York University to have at least some sort of disagreement when talking about the current election,” he says. “Instead, the audience was given a ‘Never Trumper’ and a Hillary supporter. It created an echo-chamber of anti-Trump bigotry when what was really needed was a diverse range of opinions.”
