Balarama Holness: Winning is Overrated

02/05/25 • 41 min

Episode 4. Balarama Holness: Winning Is Overrated

Black on the Ballot

Balarama Holness’ personal path to politics is unique. From growing up in an ashram, to a career as a professional football player, to running for mayor and founding a provincial political party. He became political, not necessarily to win, but to use the system to force change. How? In this conversation with host Nana aba Duncan, Balarama Holness talks about running for office and his conviction that, in politics, winning isn’t everything.

In 2020, a New York Times headline described Balarama Holness as “the man striving to be the ‘Canadian Obama.’” Like Barack Obama, Balarama’s political career is rooted in community engagement, activism, and changing the system from within.

This episode features:

Balarama Holness, candidate for Montréal-Nord borough mayor (2017), mayoral candidate for Montréal (2021), and provincial candidate for Bloc Montréal (2022)

Alvin Curling, Member of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament (1985-2005), speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (2003-2005), and Canada’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic (2005-2006)

This episode includes an audio clip from CTV’s W5.

Resources for this episode:

Read the research that supports this podcast:

New report on being Black in Canadian politics

On Black Canadians’ voter turnout:

Statistics Canada’s data on voter turnout by racial background

On abuse in local politics:

Samara Centre for Democracy’s SAMbot Municipal Report

This podcast is part of Black Canadians in Electoral Politics, a research partnership between Carleton University and Operation Black Vote Canada. To learn more, visit our website. To support the important work being done by Operation Black Vote Canada, consider making a donation.

Funding for the podcast comes from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Carleton University, the Canada Research Chairs Program, and the University of Toronto Scarborough. In-kind support was provided to Carleton University by the Samara Centre for Democracy. The podcast was produced by Media Girlfriends.

Episode website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 4. Balarama Holness: Winning Is Overrated

Black on the Ballot

This episode features:

Balarama Holness, candidate for Montréal-Nord borough mayor (2017), mayoral candidate for Montréal (2021), and provincial candidate for Bloc Montréal (2022)

Alvin Curling, Member of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament (1985-2005), speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (2003-2005), and Canada’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic (2005-2006)

This episode includes an audio clip from CTV’s W5.

Resources for this episode:

Read the research that supports this podcast:

New report on being Black in Canadian politics

On Black Canadians’ voter turnout:

Statistics Canada’s data on voter turnout by racial background

On abuse in local politics:

Samara Centre for Democracy’s SAMbot Municipal Report

Episode website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Tiffany Ford: From the Community and For the Community

Episode 3. TIffany Ford: From the Community and For the Community

Black on the Ballot

Tiffany Ford entered politics to make change in her own neighbourhood. Tired of the way local politicians and the media depicted the community of Jane and Finch, she began knocking on doors to become a school board trustee. Can you do politics without parties? What does political success look like if you don’t want to pick a team? And how do you stand up for your community in the face of overt racism?

For Tiffany, political life was not about political parties, it was about serving her community. In this episode, host Nana aba Duncan visits Tiffany at her current role, still working in her home community.

This episode features:

Tiffany Ford, Toronto School Board Trustee (2014-2018) and candidate for City Council (2018)

Jean Augustine, Member of Parliament (1993-2006) and Minister of State (2002-2004)

Zanana Akande, Member of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament (1990-1994) and Minister of Community and Social Services (1990-1991)

This episode includes audio clips from Rebel Media.

Resources for this episode:

Read the research that supports this podcast:

New report on being Black in Canadian politics

On Black Canadians’ political participation:

Social, political and economic participation, by race

On diversity on municipal councils in Canada:

Locally grown