The Canadian Brewhouse did not wake up one morning looking to become a political symbol. It pours beer, serves wings, and rents out space like thousands of businesses across the country. That is it. And yet, after a political event was almost held at one of its locations, it found itself on the receiving end of a very modern Canadian punishment. Online outrage. Coordinated pile-ons. One-star Google reviews from people who had or never eaten the food, met the staff, or paid a bill.We have seen this before. Maple Ridge saw it when a local restaurant hosted a private political dinner and then posted about it online. The response was not debate or disagreement. It was retaliation. Fake reviews. Personal attacks. A small business owner forced to spend days repairing digital damage instead of doing what she actually does for a living..Canadian Brewhouse faces heat from Alberta independence supporters.This isn’t about restaurants or breweries. It is about what happens when politics leaks into everything and turns ordinary businesses into stand-ins for national rage. These businesses include hotels, event venues, community halls, and coworking spaces. Any place that provides a room and a microphone is now expected to pass an ideological purity test before unlocking the door.This is a bad road to go down.Businesses are not political parties. Renting space is not an endorsement. Serving food is not a declaration of values. These places host weddings, charity fundraisers, retirement parties, sports banquets, union meetings, faith groups, and community events of every stripe. Politics is just one more thing that passes through the front door. Or at least it used to be..Somewhere in the last ten to fifteen years, we lost the ability to separate disagreement from punishment. Politics stopped being about persuasion and started being about pressure. Social media poured gasoline on that shift. Outrage is rewarded. Nuance is ignored. Context disappears. A Google review becomes a weapon because it is easy, anonymous, and feels satisfying in the moment.Add in years of economic anxiety, housing stress, pandemic fallout, and collapsing trust in institutions, and you get a country that is jumpy and looking for somewhere to aim its frustration. Too often, that aim lands on the nearest business..WS OPINION: Carney’s EV tariffs are driving Canada into a wall.That should bother everyone, regardless of where they sit politically.Small businesses are already fighting uphill battles such as thin margins, rising costs, and staffing challenges. And ‘Review bombing’ is not a harmless protest. It can affect foot traffic, financing, partnerships, and long-term survival. It also sends a clear message to other business owners. Do not host anything controversial. Do not rent space. Do not get involved. Just keep your head down.That is not healthy for democracy..A functioning society needs places where people can gather, argue, organize, and disagree without dragging the landlord into the fight. When every venue becomes a potential target, civic life shrinks. Conversations move further online, where everything is louder, meaner, and less human.Consumers still have choices. No one is obligated to support a business they disagree with. You can walk away. You can spend your money elsewhere. That is fair. What’s not fair is lying about an experience you never had in order to hurt someone who provided a service to a political group you didn’t like..TIAN: From cheap gas to expensive vegetables — Alberta is wasting its best asset.Platforms do not get a free pass here either. They know when reviews are being weaponized. They track the spikes and they see the patterns, so for them to choose not to act isn’t being neutral; it’s careless. If Canada is going to move forward, we need to stop confusing disagreement with danger and association with endorsement. Businesses are not political actors, and renting a room is not taking a side. Canada will not heal until we stop dragging businesses into political fights they did not start and were never meant to referee.
