Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says if Montreal doesn’t want its vandalized statue of Canada’s first prime minister in their city, he will put it up in front of the Alberta legislature..Montreal police confirmed the statue of John A. Macdonald was unbolted, pulled down, decapitated and sprayed with graffiti at around 2:45 p.m. (EST).Police were on hand but did not intervene other than to ask the crowd to disperse on a loudspeaker..“A mob has torn down and defaced the statue of Sir John A Macdonald in Montreal. This vandalism of our history and heroes must stop. As his biographer Richard Gwyn wrote, ‘no Macdonald, no Canada.’ Both Macdonald & the country he created were flawed but still great,” Kenney tweeted Saturday..“Many of those on the extreme left responsible for this kind of violence claim that Canada is an illegitimate state, all the while enjoying Canada’s rights, freedoms, privileges & prosperity. None of those things were created by accident. They come from the vision & sacrifice of those who went before us, particularly Macdonald himself.. Canadians oppose historical statues being torn down by protestersToppled Macdonald statue in Montreal .“He was an immigrant who suffered unimaginable personal trauma throughout his life, which he overcame to forge an enormous country out of divided factions. It’s right to debate his legacy and life. But it is wrong to allow roving bands of thugs to vandalize our history with impunity..“If the City of Montreal decides not to restore Wade’s statue of Macdonald to where it has stood for 125 years, we would be happy to receive it for installation on the grounds of Alberta’s Legislature.”.Quebec premier Francois Legault said destroying statues will solve nothing..“Whatever one might think of John A. Macdonald, destroying a monument in this way is unacceptable,” he tweeted..“We must fight racism, but destroying parts of our history is not the solution. .“Vandalism has no place in our democracy and the statue must be restored.”.New Conservative leader Erin O’Toole also expressed his outrage.. POLL: Many Albertans say they will ignore Christmas COVID lockdown .“Canada wouldn’t exist without Sir John A. Macdonald. Canada is a great county, and one we should be proud of. We will not build a better future by defacing our past,” he tweeted..The organizers, who call themselves the Coalition for BIPOC Liberation, are asking for cities to reduce their police budgets by 50%..In Victoria, in 2018, its city council voted to remove a statue of Macdonald from in front of their city hall..City councillors voted to have the monument removed because of Macdonald’s role as “a leader of violence against Indigenous peoples” after a year of discussion..During his time as prime minister, Macdonald’s government brought in the Indian Act and set up the residential school system..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
