ROBINSON: A strong leader must handle the noise

Naheed Nenshi, Alberta’s NDP leader, recently reminded us of what cowardly leadership looks like. 

He demonstrated the same spinelessness that I experienced from David Eby and the folks who work in the BC Premier’s office. 

I saw the same words I was instructed to use in my apology two-and-a-half years ago, words about “harm caused to others” with a tone of abject humility about the “damage” caused, in Mr Nenshi’s case, by a photo he took with (horror of horrors) Israel’s Ambassador to Canada and in my case, calling pre 1948 Israel, a “crappy piece of land.”

I can vividly imagine the lather that Alberta NDP members and, I suspect, certain leaders in the Canadian Muslim community worked themselves into, because Canadian Muslim leaders, Imams and BC NDP members went bananas on David Eby, insisting that I was fired for “Islamophobia” and the “harm” that my comment had caused. 

In my case, I was describing the quality of the land and the minimal infrastructure in pre-1948 Israel and in Nenshi’s case he had actually spoken with and took a photo with a representative from a democratic, Canada friendly nation.

The Nenshi apology closely mirrors the apology that I was told I needed to make by the folks working in the BC Premier’s office. I was surprised that my words describing the land had somehow hurt folks, so I followed up with those claiming to be harmed. I spoke with a couple of Muslim leaders here in BC – none of them were able to describe any harm. 

The National Council of Canadian Muslims couldn’t even be bothered to talk with me at the appointed time to receive my apology and to help me better ‘understand the harm that I had caused’. They were calling for my head, claiming how ‘grievously I had caused harm to their community’. They didn’t even call me back after I left several messages. I am guessing there was no harm, only a desire to vilify the Jew. 

Given my experience, I strongly suspect the National Council of Canadian Muslims and others used similar lines of ‘harm’ and ‘damage’ with the folks that work in Nenshi’s office. And just like David Eby and his team, Nenshi and his team fell for it.

I can picture the conversation with the communications team: Make the apology. Grovel. Be humble. Just stop the noise. Just appease those who are upset and then carry on. Besides, who cares about the Jews. They aren’t much of a voting block anyway.

The thing is … this is not about the Jews and it’s not about Israel.

This apology is about leadership. It’s about character and the ability to withstand the pressure that comes with leadership.

When you are an elected leader, noise comes at you from every direction. Some of the noise will be about policies. Some will be pleased about a policy decision; many more will be unhappy about it. A ton of the noise will be about spending more money on a whole variety of issues. 

Some of the noise will say you are spending too much, and there will be way more noise that you aren’t spending enough. And there will be lots of noise from folks who think you made the wrong decision; unhappy people have much more to say than folks who are pleased with the direction you have taken. 

A good leader, a strong leader handles the noise. A good leader, a strong leader stands committed to their values and their principles. A good leader doesn’t cave to the accusations and pressure that floods their office.

Two days after I made my ‘crappy piece of land’ comment, David Eby told me not to worry, implying he had my back. Three days after that he fired me from cabinet. The pressure and accusation of the ‘harm’ I had caused was too much for him. 

So, Eby no longer had my back and Nenshi, who declared himself a friend of the Jews turned away from those they said they stood with when the noise got to be too loud. All of this suggests that neither David Eby, nor Naheed Nenshi are particularly good, strong leaders. 

It appears that Naheed Nenshi suffers from the same condition as David Eby – a form of spinelessness that responds to those who yell loudest, hoping to quell the noise, principles be damned.

Selina Robinson MA was a family therapist for over 25 years before entering politics in 2008, first as a city counsellor, then as an MLA. She held several cabinet portfolios in the BC government, including municipal affairs & housing, post-secondary education, and finance. Amid rising antisemitism following the October 7 terrorist attacks, Robinson, a Jew, found herself targeted by anti-Israel activists and was fired from cabinet by Premier Eby. She wrote about her experience as a progressive Jew in government in her memoir, Truth Be Told.