Friday, 4 February 2022

Pt. 1, of post --- pt. 2 follows this

 

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OTTAWA — Speaking 14 months ago about the farmer protests against agricultural reform laws that had brought parts of India, including the nation’s capital, to a standstill, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on the occasion of the founder of the Sikh religion’s birthday on Nov. 30, 2020, told a virtual gathering of Sikh Canadians that he stood with the protesters. He said: “I would be remiss if I didn’t start by recognizing the news coming from India about the protest by farmers. The situation is concerning … Let me remind you, Canada will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protesters. We believe in the process of dialogue … This is a moment for all of us to pull together.”

A supporter takes part in the continuing truckers' protest against mandated vaccinations, in Ottawa on Feb. 2, 2022.© Provided by National Post A supporter takes part in the continuing truckers' protest against mandated vaccinations, in Ottawa on Feb. 2, 2022.

Fast forward to the present. In facing the trucker convoy that has brought the centre of Ottawa largely to a standstill, this is what Trudeau had to say on Jan. 31: “… over the past few days, Canadians have been shocked — and, frankly, disgusted — by the behaviour displayed by some people protesting in our nation’s capital.” He added that he would not meet the protesters and criticized then Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole for doing so.

What is striking is that Trudeau’s tactic in demonizing a large and diverse group of protesters and tarring them all with the same brush takes a leaf from the playbook of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government and its powerful ecosystem claimed, without much substantive evidence, that the entire farmers’ protest was tied into the Khalistan movement here in Canada. The whole group of farmers were portrayed as little better than terrorists seeking to destabilize the Indian state.

Meanwhile, back in present day Canada, some prominent city officials in Ottawa went further than Trudeau. City councillor and former journalist Carol Anne Meehan tweeted: “Wish we could identify protesters to find out if any receive gov’t aid. If they can afford to stay in Ottawa and hurt our residents I would cut them off. Enough! Go home now.” Another city councillor with possible mayoral ambitions, Mathieu Fleury, tweeted in a similar vein: “This morning, I have asked the city manager and city solicitor to immediately launch court proceedings targeting the millions of dollars in funds frozen by @GoFundMe so Ottawa taxpayers are not left holding the bag for these protests.”

The two politicians subsequently deleted their tweets, without explanation or apology, after considerable social media pushback. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has also criticized the protests in rather strong language and urged the protesters to leave. In a similar vein, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the protesters needed to “move on,” and expressed his distaste with the demonstrations.

It’s ironic that elected Canadian officials are sounding like authoritarian tin pot dictators when this country’s leaders have routinely lectured governments in the developing world that they must engage rather than crack down on democratic and peaceful protests, much as Trudeau did in the case of India’s farmer protests.


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