Canada’s leaders deserve our respect
We’re losing it folks. We’re losing the Canada famous for the ingrained politeness and reflexive civility of its people. We’re losing the safe public forums where people with differing political views can come together, discuss, debate and develop, confident any disagreements can be managed agreeably. We’re losing the conviction we can speak freely about matters of public interest as the sound and fury of louts reach ever higher decibels. We’re losing it because, quite frankly, more and more Canadians are losing it.
Just look at the disgraceful — in fact dangerous — reception that greeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he attempted to join a fundraiser in Surrey, B.C., last Tuesday. A furious, hostile mob assembled outside the event, hurling insults and threats of violence at everyone going in. Most of the people attending the fundraiser were South Asian Canadians who were bombarded with racist slurs and harassed for wearing turbans. Someone carried a noose hanging from two, flat sticks printed with the words “treason” and “Trudeau.” After the RCMP warned the prime minister the protest could escalate, he cancelled his Surrey appearance, choosing instead to speak virtually to the fundraiser.
Trudeau is becoming too experienced in facing such anti-social, anti-democratic tirades. Angry protesters dogged him throughout much of last year’s federal election campaign. A rally in Bolton, Ont., was cancelled in August when dozens of people assembled at the site and chanted obscenities against him. During a campaign stop in London, Ont., Trudeau was pelted with gravel.
That is so definitely not the kind of Canada any of us should be trying to build. No one needs to like Trudeau, just as no one needs to vote for him. That’s democracy. At the same time, Trudeau leads the Liberal party that won last year’s federal election and today forms the government of Canada. People have the liberty to disagree with him, to criticize him, to propose alternatives to his government’s policies. That’s fully in line with a parliamentary system comprised of a government and its loyal opposition. To threaten the government or the prime minister leading it, however, is to threaten the integrity of the system itself. It suggests bullies, not ballots, rule. And that’s deranged opposition.
To be sure, Canada’s history is not devoid of such blights. Indeed, almost 54 years ago then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau — the current PM’s father — refused to flee as separatist protesters in Montreal hurled rocks and bottles at him. Such displays of public distemper, however, have in the past been the exception rather than the rule. Not anymore.
Recently in Peterborough, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was harassed by protesters who called him “traitor” and “liar” as they pursued him to his car. It’s possible, though not clear, the disgusting attack had racial motives. What is entirely understandable is Singh’s observation that this was one of the most “intense, threatening (and) insulting” experiences he’s had as a public figure and that he’s “worried about what that means for politics.”
That’s a fair assessment. Whether it’s the result of an unending pandemic, poisoned social media exchanges or the malign influence of our deeply, at times irrationally, polarized American neighbours, there’s a sickness infecting Canada’s public life. Threats to federal politicians from every party are on the rise.
The RCMP regularly meets with Liberal cabinet ministers, as well as opposition party leaders to keep them abreast of each new risk. Like it or not, we’re slipping and sliding into the kind of polarized world that has overtaken U.S. politics. If that trend persists here, someone’s going to get hurt.
Canadians need to do more to resist the drift to such political dysfunction. Free speech and free association are the foundations of our democracy. However, threatening violence against someone is not an exercise of freedom, but more likely a crime. Chasing a politician to his car could well fall into that category. So might flaunting a miniature gallows at a prime minister.
Police need to recognize this and respond with more authority when protesters cross the line into aggressive intimidation. As for the rest of us, we have an equally important role to play. We can demand a political arena that is safe, respectful to all and where the rules of decency are obeyed. And we can win back, not lose, a political system governed by reason, proportion and a sense of the common good.