Ms Chen eyes at her white colleague and applies for a job at the city of Vancouver.

Chen smiles and says,

Even though I’m less qualified, I’ve a better chance than you at getting the job.

Unfortunately, this scenario plays out over and over again in our politically-correct-gone-wild state of affairs in North America.

We don’t think any of our Asian colleagues would actually be proud to inform others, that they received a job placement based on their ethnicity.

We know racism does occur.

But when well meaning policies advocate placement opportunities to persons based on colour, race, ethnicity, sex, and other metrics, it is sort of like applying racism to combat racism.

And it seems that when these affirmative action programs are in place, the mediocre sorts generally end up in those positions.

This week, Canada’s Conservative government announced that their federal bureaucratic positions are to be based on merit.

Thank you.

Finally… common sense prevails.

Let’s base placement on ability, and not on the colour of a person’s skin or cultural background.

We had ranted about this in a previous post, “Glass Ceilings made in Canada ( 2007)“. Particularly poignant was the Richmond City call for ethnic minorities as firefighters.

Really.

Does one really care the colour of the skin of a firefighter when being rescued from a burning building?

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The Conservative government has ordered a review of federal affirmative action policies, saying the public service should hire based on merit, not race or gender.

Cabinet ministers Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney announced this week the review of the Public Service Employment Act, along with any related practices and policies.

“I strongly agree with the objective of creating a public service that reflects the diversity of Canada, and with fair measures designed to reach that goal,” said Kenney, minister of citizenship and immigration. “But we must ensure that all Canadians have an equal opportunity to work for their government based on merit, regardless of race or ethnicity.”

Introduced in 1986, the equity act covers federally regulated companies with 100 or more employees. Under the current policy, the federal government targets four “employment equity” groups: visible minorities, aboriginals, people with disabilities and women.

The Public Service Commission of Canada says on its website that most positions are open to all applicants, but that “from time to time, certain positions may be limited to applicants from members of employment equity-designated groups.”

Day, president of the Treasury Board, said the review will be undertaken by his department. It was prompted, he said, by constituent complaints of discrimination as well as recent high-profile cases in the media.

For example, Sara Landriault, of Kemptville, Ont., went public Wednesday with complaints after she was told she could not continue an online job application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada after answering she was white in response to a question about her race.