Canadians usually stomach crass and arrogant behaviour up to a point and then, when the lines we each draw in the sand are crossed, we take our stand and say “enough is enough.”
Quite often, that’s when we vote out the political party that’s taken too much advantage of our goodwill – triggering that useless and inefficient cycle of handing the purse strings to either the Grits or Tories. Electoral reform, however, is not the subject of today’s correspondence.
Today’s focus is on the so-called ‘Canadian tolerance and politeness’ that fuelled the success of the “Freedom Convoy” as it travelled to Ottawa from the four directions last week. Their GoFundMe campaign raised $9 million and tens of thousands of people gave their time and energy to the demonstration at the capital. For many, it was an act of quasi-peaceful blood-letting our representatives at the House of Commons deserved, whether the grievances were pandemic-related or not. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau irks even a large portion of Liberals and if it wasn’t for weak oppositional parties, he’d be on a former-leader speaking tour at this very moment.
But convoy organizers and supporters should understand there is a limit to how far they can go in their quest for change. They shouldn’t mistake the velvet-glove treatment by Ottawa city police as an indication they have a blank cheque of societal support.
The warm embrace demonstrated along the TransCanada Highway Thursday and Friday, including an impressive showing in North Bay, tapped into a reservoir of goodwill brewed by multiple waves of viral peaks and the corresponding public health edicts to blunt the surge into hospitals.
A strong majority of Canadians love a parade and waving the Maple Leaf makes many feel empowered with a patriotic rush. It’s been a long two years of uncertainty and frustration as countries around the world stumble through a pandemic minefield.
Of course, with the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus breaking through vaccines and proving less deadly and possibly less damaging, we all see a window of hope opening. The end of mandates has always been the goal, although I’m sure the architects of such measures would prefer to beat the virus rather than settle for a truce.
As I’ve said before, the push for vaccinating the majority of people last year may have been the best thing to do based on what was known and unknown. It certainly appears to have saved thousands of lives and helped avoid serious illness as the mutated version spread like wildfire before Christmas. But many more people are convinced we need a new plan for 2022 that takes into account the knowledge that vaccination isn’t a silver bullet stopping the spread. It’s a game-changer for sure.
You have to give the organizers of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ credit for their strategic efforts and timing. They garnered international support and attention beyond even their own dreams.
But more and more people are becoming aware that their support of the founding organizers of the movement comes with a reputational price. Not everybody understood that Albertan separatists were at its core, not just truckers wanting to work. They didn’t realize a fringe element of the protesters was as despicable as the unsavoury far-right Republicans that are making a mockery of their brand of democracy south of the border.
Personally, it was painful to see our flag flown upside down beside the Stars and Stripes and I don’t understand how anyone could stomach seeing the racist Confederate and Nazi symbolism involved. How ironic their claims of tyranny when they had the freedom to demonstrate such vile things in public. Obviously, not all of those involved are that rude and obnoxious, but inaction or excusing such behaviour leads to guilt by association.
The group organizing daily demonstrations in the North Bay area should keep all the above in mind when going about their business this week. The silent majority will put up with only so much transgression. It’s advisable to not get too bold and righteous as we all hope to lift, when it is sensible, the restrictions on our lives and economic activity.
Hopefully, cooler heads prevail heading into this weekend.
I draw the line at harassing innocent workers and customers in retail shops over masking rules as a highly contagious virus circulates. Standing on the superhero cape of Terry Fox’s legacy or urinating at sacred monuments – and trying to defend those actions – is also perilous to the stated cause.
Consider it food for thought.
P.S. My suggestion to offer a waiver for those who don’t want to get on the vaccination bus, giving up their right to an ICU bed, for the right to work and play landed with a resounding thud. Turns out, people who don’t fear the virus are adept at finding all kinds of excuses for keeping their health care safety net just in case. Good to know.
Dave Dale is a veteran journalist and columnist who has covered the North Bay area for more than 30 years. Reader responses meant as Letters to the Editor can be sent to [email protected]. To contact the writer directly, email: [email protected] or check out his website www.smalltowntimes.ca
