Saw a pickup parked outside a house in Chemainus the other day, behind it a hedge with a Canadian flag draped over it like a banner. In the window of the pickup, a sign said ‘Fuck Trudeau’.
Like most polite Canadians I have tried to ignore this bit of crass, childish incivility, but my conscience keeps telling me: “Say something! When democratic values are being undermined by the behaviour of a radical minority, we have to speak up. Our silence gives their claims credence.”
Let me begin by saying, I can’t put a sign up in my window saying “Hooray for Trudeau” I was deeply disappointed – felt cheated actually – when he didn’t move to implement proportional representation after having promised to do so before he became Prime Minister in 2015. His party’s progress on issues like climate change, poverty and homelessness, to name a few, has been ineffective… and so on.
But he’s a duly elected MP and leader of the party that has formed our government. So when I direct an epithet or slogan his way, I have to remember I’m not addressing him, personally; I’m talking to the Canadians who continue to support him as Prime Minister, and in fact the vast majority of Canadians who believe in democratic institutions and abhor the possible alternatives.
Let me be blunt. If I say ‘Fuck Trudeau!, I’m saying ‘Fuck Canada!’
Canada isn’t a place; it’s an idea. The fundamental concepts we share are a set of values and beliefs about how we make decisions and settle disagreements. It ain’t perfect, but it’s a democracy. And, of course, civil disobedience is a valued part of the political spectrum. It’s at the far end of the spectrum, however, and descends into darker and darker shades of grey when it becomes uncivil, disorderly, disruptive, threatening.
The irony here is, those who claim to be the heroes of the Freedom Convoy can just as easily be tagged the harbingers of repression. When a minority – supported largely by funds from outside our borders, and many of whose members espouse ideas that are repugnant to most Canadians – impedes the day to day functioning of a city, governments at all levels have to enact measures that are outside our democratic norms.
The same is true when a group threatens to disrupt emergency response services throughout the country, if charges are laid against one of its members and a court of law decides those charges warrant prosecution. As with government, our judicial system is not a thing; it’s a legal code we agree to as citizens, and any actions aimed at thwarting the enactment of our laws brings us closer to a state of lawlessness.
Freedom is the obverse side of a coin whose main currency is ‘responsibility’. I am responsible for the well being and safety of my community and the community of communities called Canada. I am responsible for abiding by and upholding the standards that make Canada a peaceful, privileged nation.
I’m not alone when I say the behaviour of some Freedom Convoy supporters has diminished the pride the rest of us can take in Canada’s flag. Most of us don’t take pride in a country where the level of political debate can be summed up in the words ‘Fuck you!’