Protesters have made bomb threats and other death threats to him. They have called him a dictator and a threat to democracy. They have told him to f-- off..He's Stephen Harper, of course, and he can commiserate with acting co-Prime Minister Jagmeet Singh, having experienced first-hand what Singh calls the “hate, polarization, and disinformation taking over this country”. Whether it be for proroguing parliament, denying climate change or as the CBCs Gillian Findlay described him “Turning on the charm” for world leaders at the G20 summit in Toronto, when 10, 000 police officers, many in full riot gear, met global justice protesters...yes, Harper, too, was hounded by angry populism..Let's not forget Jean Chretien, who, in January 1996 faced the hate and became his own security detail in facing protester Bill Clennett, after the separatist broke through a perimeter and stood in Chretien's way. As reported by the National Post, Chretien promptly “grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground, breaking one of his teeth”, and gave to Canada – eclipsing “the Trudeau Salute” – “the Shawinigan Handshake”. In his autobiography, Chretien admits to being a little jittery at the time, as on Nov 5, 1995 a knife wielding separatist had broken into the Prime Minister's residence while Chretien slept. Fortunately, Chretien's wife was awake and was able to call for help..Then there's Trudeau: never one to run from a challenger—be they truckers or rogue justice ministers; the boxer who once took on indigenous Senator Patrick Brazeau in the ring for a popular charity event. On August 16, 2018 Trudeau engaged one of the new breed of protesters crashing the public sphere. At a rally in Quebec, the vertically challenged senior citizen queried Trudeau on the flood of new immigrants to Quebec. “I want to know when you are going to refund the $146 million we paid for your illegal immigrants,” she shouted. Trudeau responded with a strong display of Canadian values: “Madam, this intolerance towards immigrants has no room in Canada” and had plain-clothed RCMP officers usher her away, unfortunately bruising her arm..Singh, a blackbelt in Jiu Jitsu, was visibly hurt and offended in his press conference following the harrowing events of last week, though he was quick to point out that his concern was for his staff. The film footage of Singh walking the 20 feet to his security vehicle is somewhat unclear, though it does show yet another senior citizen – a leather vested portly man (who does look a bit like a trucker or a biker, to be clear), awaiting Singh with arms and hands open and a visible grimace. “For myself and my staff,” said Singh, “I would say that was one of the most intense, threatening...physically...there was a feeling of intense threat.”.“The NDP leader was targeted”, explained the CBC. “Suddenly a visit by the party's federal leader turned chaotic, sparking concern about his safety and now a police investigation.”.In the video of the event, protesters call Singh “a Liberal”, “fraud”, and “a traitor”. “You turned your back on the people,” they shout. The footage available to the public unfortunately does not show the “chaos”..Singh recounted: “People were saying I hope you die”..For those of us confused by these events, Singh explained: “Sadly, polarization and disinformation are real dangers to our society. While disagreements are fundamental to a thriving democracy, hatred, violence, and wishing death upon others threaten it.”.Acting Peterborough Police Chief Tim Farquharson also made a video statement to the protesters: “Your actions and belief systems are reprehensible, unconscionable and in some cases criminal.” Farquharson could not be reached for clarification on “criminal belief systems”, however..A growing number of Canadians want Singh to take a note from David Letterman, who, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, asked the poignant question: “Why do they hate us?” To date, however, the present government has not responded to the idea, or even appointed a royal commission to look into it..NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, however, linked the Peterborough crowd to the February Bouncy Castle Convoy, or what the Fifth Estate has described as “The visitors from Hell.” MacGregor explains: “Our leader Jagmeet Singh had to wade through a group of people who were calling him a traitor, who were hurling expletives at him saying that they hoped he would die, and they were hounding him all the way to his waiting vehicle. This is the exact same kind of behaviour that we saw littered throughout the occupation of Ottawa.” He went on to ask CSIS representatives, “How long before we treat this seriously and put in place the tools to prevent this?”.Liberal MP Pam Danoff followed, describing the protests as “attacks on politicians” and asked, “Are there additional steps the government should be taking so that politicians are not subjected to these kinds of threats.”.Jean Chretien could not be reached for comment..They have a point. Canadians have all witnessed the rise in hateful rhetoric – “Nazi sympathizer”, “he's a homophobe”, “he takes up space”, “how long do we tolerate him” – and Singh is proactively addressing it. Harper faced the hate with the Anti-terrorism bill, which to the NDP “weakens the fundamental freedoms of every single Canadian and threatens our open society with an atmosphere of fear.” Desperate times, desperate measures. Now, on the right side of history, Singh backs the online censorship bill, C-10, and in so doing brings oversight to speech that is becoming far too free..The Peterborough event was a “symbol of disinformation”, and it should concern us all..More legislation will no doubt curb the polarization and hate.
Protesters have made bomb threats and other death threats to him. They have called him a dictator and a threat to democracy. They have told him to f-- off..He's Stephen Harper, of course, and he can commiserate with acting co-Prime Minister Jagmeet Singh, having experienced first-hand what Singh calls the “hate, polarization, and disinformation taking over this country”. Whether it be for proroguing parliament, denying climate change or as the CBCs Gillian Findlay described him “Turning on the charm” for world leaders at the G20 summit in Toronto, when 10, 000 police officers, many in full riot gear, met global justice protesters...yes, Harper, too, was hounded by angry populism..Let's not forget Jean Chretien, who, in January 1996 faced the hate and became his own security detail in facing protester Bill Clennett, after the separatist broke through a perimeter and stood in Chretien's way. As reported by the National Post, Chretien promptly “grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground, breaking one of his teeth”, and gave to Canada – eclipsing “the Trudeau Salute” – “the Shawinigan Handshake”. In his autobiography, Chretien admits to being a little jittery at the time, as on Nov 5, 1995 a knife wielding separatist had broken into the Prime Minister's residence while Chretien slept. Fortunately, Chretien's wife was awake and was able to call for help..Then there's Trudeau: never one to run from a challenger—be they truckers or rogue justice ministers; the boxer who once took on indigenous Senator Patrick Brazeau in the ring for a popular charity event. On August 16, 2018 Trudeau engaged one of the new breed of protesters crashing the public sphere. At a rally in Quebec, the vertically challenged senior citizen queried Trudeau on the flood of new immigrants to Quebec. “I want to know when you are going to refund the $146 million we paid for your illegal immigrants,” she shouted. Trudeau responded with a strong display of Canadian values: “Madam, this intolerance towards immigrants has no room in Canada” and had plain-clothed RCMP officers usher her away, unfortunately bruising her arm..Singh, a blackbelt in Jiu Jitsu, was visibly hurt and offended in his press conference following the harrowing events of last week, though he was quick to point out that his concern was for his staff. The film footage of Singh walking the 20 feet to his security vehicle is somewhat unclear, though it does show yet another senior citizen – a leather vested portly man (who does look a bit like a trucker or a biker, to be clear), awaiting Singh with arms and hands open and a visible grimace. “For myself and my staff,” said Singh, “I would say that was one of the most intense, threatening...physically...there was a feeling of intense threat.”.“The NDP leader was targeted”, explained the CBC. “Suddenly a visit by the party's federal leader turned chaotic, sparking concern about his safety and now a police investigation.”.In the video of the event, protesters call Singh “a Liberal”, “fraud”, and “a traitor”. “You turned your back on the people,” they shout. The footage available to the public unfortunately does not show the “chaos”..Singh recounted: “People were saying I hope you die”..For those of us confused by these events, Singh explained: “Sadly, polarization and disinformation are real dangers to our society. While disagreements are fundamental to a thriving democracy, hatred, violence, and wishing death upon others threaten it.”.Acting Peterborough Police Chief Tim Farquharson also made a video statement to the protesters: “Your actions and belief systems are reprehensible, unconscionable and in some cases criminal.” Farquharson could not be reached for clarification on “criminal belief systems”, however..A growing number of Canadians want Singh to take a note from David Letterman, who, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, asked the poignant question: “Why do they hate us?” To date, however, the present government has not responded to the idea, or even appointed a royal commission to look into it..NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, however, linked the Peterborough crowd to the February Bouncy Castle Convoy, or what the Fifth Estate has described as “The visitors from Hell.” MacGregor explains: “Our leader Jagmeet Singh had to wade through a group of people who were calling him a traitor, who were hurling expletives at him saying that they hoped he would die, and they were hounding him all the way to his waiting vehicle. This is the exact same kind of behaviour that we saw littered throughout the occupation of Ottawa.” He went on to ask CSIS representatives, “How long before we treat this seriously and put in place the tools to prevent this?”.Liberal MP Pam Danoff followed, describing the protests as “attacks on politicians” and asked, “Are there additional steps the government should be taking so that politicians are not subjected to these kinds of threats.”.Jean Chretien could not be reached for comment..They have a point. Canadians have all witnessed the rise in hateful rhetoric – “Nazi sympathizer”, “he's a homophobe”, “he takes up space”, “how long do we tolerate him” – and Singh is proactively addressing it. Harper faced the hate with the Anti-terrorism bill, which to the NDP “weakens the fundamental freedoms of every single Canadian and threatens our open society with an atmosphere of fear.” Desperate times, desperate measures. Now, on the right side of history, Singh backs the online censorship bill, C-10, and in so doing brings oversight to speech that is becoming far too free..The Peterborough event was a “symbol of disinformation”, and it should concern us all..More legislation will no doubt curb the polarization and hate.
