“I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate.”

Long before Donald Trump, long before Kellie Leitch, there was Pauline Hanson.

Back in 1996, the odious Australian gave one of the most divisive speeches in that country’s history when she made her parliamentary debut. Thousands took to the streets in protest and she was eventually banished to the fringes as a hate-monger.

Some 20 years later, as bigotry has made a comeback, so has she — this time as a senator with a significant say on legislation related to issues such as immigration and equality.

Her first speech to the Senate in September this year echoed the earlier one, only swapping the target of hate.

“We are in danger of being swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own,” she said.

To those not prepared to adapt to the Australian way of life, “I suggest that you go back to where you came from.”

Euphemistic, polite Canada is following in the footsteps of its brasher twin.

Around the time of Hanson’s newer speech, Canadian Conservative MP Kellie Leitch was becoming known around the country for proposing a “Canadian values” screening test for immigrants.

The Canadian values she identified include freedom and — oh, the irony — tolerance.

“Are you saying to me that we can ask someone about their income, but we can’t ask them if they believe in equality of women?” she asked The Canadian Press in September. If you take that test to its logical conclusion, she would be relying on honesty — a remarkably good value to have — for someone to say, “No, we don’t believe in equality for women.”

It would be just as meaningless as asking Leitch, “Do you believe in equality for all races and religions?”

As with Hanson, Leitch’s policy proposals are being disavowed by her own party members. These include rivals such as Jason Kenney (even he of the bring-in-immigrants-but-ditch-their-parents fame) and provincial conservatives such as Ontario’s Patrick Brown.

Fellow progressive conservative Steve Kent of Newfoundland and Labrador has known Leitch for a couple years. He calls her “a bright, capable, passionate” woman.

“But I was really struggling with some of the campaign’s divisive policy position,” he says. In mid-November, he pulled back his endorsement of her.

“When we talk about Canadian values, I think many are forgetting that the fact that the first Canadians, the first to inhabit this place were aboriginal people, and they have suffered immensely over the years and continue to endure hardship and the impacts of institutionalized racism that speak to the need to reevaluate our values as Canadians. But instead of bitterness, we are seeing an aboriginal movement towards reconciliation…

“As we accept that generous offer and the opportunity to heal old wounds, we should also learn from it, and apply it to building healthy relationships with those of many other diverse cultures… instead of building walls.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Trump, too, provoked vocal distaste for his racist and xenophobic exhortations, from within the Republican Party and outside. What remained out of sight was the silent agreement of those whose primitive passions his words fed.

Leitch — who on Wednesday called for the dismantling of Canada’s much-vaunted CBC — has everything to gain from courting controversy. It has catapulted her from no-name to some-fame on the national stage.

But if she is to follow Hanson’s style and Trump’s trajectory, Canada has a lot to lose.

Populism distracts from serious issues of proficiency and policy-making, and I suspect Leitch is going to ratchet up the rhetoric. For this, she needs the media.

The Trump playbook showed her how to feed off the public’s attraction to controversy, by forcing media coverage with outrageous statements. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Rejection by her fellow conservatives and negative media coverage play right into her hands by hardening the attitudes of those suspicious of mainstream media and the “elite.”

More publicity also means more funds; Leitch is already claiming strong fundraising.

Let us learn from America’s mistakes and not get played. Recent developments in the U.S. have shown how quickly divisive supremacist ideals can take root.

Canada is a robust democracy with a wide spectrum of ideologies. We have plenty of room for disagreement among honorable people.

You can’t lead a unified country if you need to divide it on your way to power. You can’t teach love with fear. Why should the country suffer at the altar of one person’s political ambitions?

If media — mainstream and social — cut off the air that fuels hate, it would nip this nonsense in the bud. It would work if we all did it.

For Canada’s sake, let’s do it.

Let’s ignore Kellie Leitch.

Shree Paradkar tackles issues of race and gender. You can follow her @shreeparadkar

Read more about: