Some random thoughts on the protest convoy that descended on Ottawa last week:
• NEW RULE (with apologies to Bill Maher): If anyone in your group flies a Nazi flag, a swastika, or a Confederate flag, you forfeit the right to use the word ‘freedom.’ Full Stop.
• NEW RULE: Similar to above, if your stated goal is to remove our democratically-elected government by any means other than an election, you forfeit the right to use the Canadian flag. Find your own flag … oh, forgot, some of you have.
• Can we call those who plan to have a self-appointed committee team up with the Senate and Lieutenant-Governor to remove the government Canada, at best, delusional, at worst, seditious and treat them as such?
• The fact that the protestors were allowed to cross the country and then close down the nation’s capital for days shows that we have substantial freedom in Canada. Let’s not forget that.
• Does anyone remember the good old days of just a couple of years ago when Extinction Rebellion and supporters of the Wet’suwet’en were blockading roads and rail lines across the country? Conservative politicians in this country were apoplectic, falling just short of saying the trains should just roll through the blockades stopping goods getting to market. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney even brought in legislation basically making protests, something we all agree the truckers have a right to do, pretty much illegal in that province. So where are the Conservatives now? They’ve jumped on the trucker bandwagon and are, like all opportunistic politicians, trying to get in front of the crowd.
If the Extinction Rebellion/Wet’suwet’en blockades deserved a heavy hand, so do these.
In fairness, Kenney did say that a blockade at the Coutts border crossing in southern Alberta has to come down. As I write this, police are moving in.
• That leaves those in Ottawa wondering why police not are moving in there.
• The Conservatives are wrong trying to play this protest as being just a ‘trucker’ protest. It has morphed into much more so the Conservatives are wrong in not distancing themselves from the extremist stowaways who have jumped onto the convoy.
• Thanks to the Conservatives, however, for staging a palace coup on Monday, taking some of the air out of protest as the media pivoted to the real life production of Julius Caesar playing out in Conservative circles.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are right in condemning the extremist elements of the protest.
• For those who got past the above line, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are wrong in trying to demonize everyone involved in the protest as extremist, racist, misogynist, and whatever other ‘ist’ they can dream up. On Saturday there were support protests in scores of communities across the country. A lot of people across the country are angry and the Liberals ignore that at the country’s peril. It’s a schism in the country that our leaders should be trying to close, not ignore because they believe they can still win without addressing it.
• When did ‘being tired of the pandemic’ become an excuse for ignoring public health guidelines? We’re all tired. I have high blood pressure. I’m tired of taking pills every day and watching what I eat (more or less). I’m tired of it, but that doesn’t mean I stop doing it.