Statement by Joe Ghiz

Monday, April 14, 1986

It seemed appropriate to me that I make this statement at this time because the issue has been raised in the local and national media in recent days.

I want to thank the Charlottetown Patriot and C.B.C. National for making public what has been a hidden issue in this election campaign--whether the nature of my ethnic origin will be a factor in how Islanders will vote next Monday.

Because the issue is now out in the open I can respond to it. Certainly I have been aware that in the minds of the media, particularly national media, the issue has been there. Almost every national reporter covering this campaign has brought the matter up. Some have seemed obsessed with it.

Indeed, it was apparently a question from a national reported that led the Patriot's editorial writer to raise the issue in that newspaper.

I will tell you quite candidly, that my responses to the national media have been to downplay the matter, and to maintain that Islanders would look at the person and what he represents, rather the origin of his ancestors.

I did that for two reasons, first, it is what I believe about my fellow Islanders; and secondly, I did not want the national media to create a picture of my fellow Islanders as racists. This is an Island election campaign, to be settled among Islanders.

An election campaign is a time of intense emotions. In the thrust and parry of debate and content, emotions rise quickly to the surface. Islanders are making an important decision. They are deciding what party and what individuals will govern them for the next four years.

There is a habit on the national media to look upon we Islanders as being quaint; of observing some of our traditions as antiquated; of describing us as being hidebound to a very narrow spectrum of believe and thought.

As an Islander I don't like that much. The Evening Patriot suggests that there are ethnic bigots on Prince Edward Island. To this each Islander must answer for him or herself - it is not my responsibility nor my intention to judge my fellow Islanders. Bigotry is part of the human condition. It is the ugly weed of democracy. It can never be allowed to spread unchecked in a society based on tolerance and respect for human rights and equality.

When I, Joe Ghiz, look in the mirror in the morning, what do I see? First of all, I see a very lucky man. I see a man of fortunate to be born a Canadian - born to a society of people whose fundamental belief is based on tolerance and respect for the individual.

Secondly, I see and Islander - an individual, whose beliefs have been shaped by being born to a society with a unique way of life and a set of traditional values I embrace as part of my being.

And, thirdly, I see a man fortunate enough to have been chosen leader by a political party representing about half the poplulation of the province.

I will say to you that it is a matter of personal pride that the Liberal Party has accepted me for what I am and for what I can do for the party and the province and every Islander.

The question is usually put this way to me by the national media - are Islanders ready to accept and Islander of Lebanese origin as their Premier? The question really means--"Do Islanders believe you, Joe Ghiz, share the same basic values?" I can only say this.

If I fundamentally believed the majority of Islanders were motivated by intolerance, and an inability to see what lies inside the man--I would not be in politics, and I would not be leading the Liberal party in this election campaign.

- I am a Canadian, and I am proud of it.
- I am an Islander, and I am proud of it.
- I am a Canadian, and an Islander of Lebanese extraction, and I am proud of that as well.

My reading of history tells me that we have all arrived here from different places; we all came for the same reason--to build a good life for ourselves and our children; and we are all proud of our cultural heritage, Scottish, Irish, Acadian, Indian, English, Lebanese, Dutch, German,--There is a great richness in that diversity.

And we all came together here to build a society based on fundamental principles of tolerance and understanding and acceptance of the individual for what he or she can contribute to society.

I have been given a great privilege.

I have been given the opportunity to contribute to the life of my Island in a way few others have.

I have been given the opportunity to place myself and my beliefs before the judgment of my peers.

If there are any who cannot accept me for what I am; if there are those, whose judgment of the individual is closed by irrational intolerance, so be it.

Everyone must live with their beliefs about the society they want. I must live with mine.

I remain unshaken in my belief in the essential fair mindedness of the vast majority of Prince Edward Islanders. I believe they will judge me for what I am, and for what I can contribute to creating the kind of society we want for ourselves and for our children.

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