My Journey by Olivia Chow

When I heard that Olivia Chow was running for mayor of Toronto, I decided not to put off reading her memoir any longer. On an accidental trip to the bookstore a couple weeks ago (I say accidental because although I was stuck at the mall waiting for a bus to come, I had no intention of entering a book store or purchasing books) I grabbed this off the shelf, along with a volume of Alice Munro's short stories, and John English biography about Pierre Trudeau. I think My Journey is definitely my favourite of the three.

Olivia Chow portrays herself just as I've perceived her in the past. She appears compassionate, strong, and full of inward beauty. When she finds a cause she gets behind it with great discipline. She's a woman with the kind of work ethic and charisma that many a young woman would like to be like. Young women in Canada have few female political role-models to look up, but Olivia is one of the few.

When a took a course in comparative political economy last term, I was made aware of the problems caused by inadequate childcare programs and so I was quite interested by Olivia's discussion of the issue in this book. The fact is, if affordable childcare is not available, then women with young children cannot work, as they must devote their time to looking after their children. If the majority of a working mother's salary goes towards childcare and there is not enough left for her and her children to live on, then it is impossible to survive, and in many cases women wind up staying home. If they are single mothers with no other avenues of support, they take welfare. As a woman--as a Canadian, I find this problematic. I was quite pleased that a woman with as loud of a voice as Olivia Chow takes the issue to heart.

There's so much I could write about My Journey but I won't, because I wouldn't want to spoil the book for prospective readers. Regardless of whether you're an NDP supporter or not, or whether you're even Canadian or have an interest in Canadian politics, Olivia Chow's memoir is a great example of what it means to devote your life to other people's lives and to building a better society.