Editor:
We live in a multi-cultural, pluralistic, democratic society under the rule of law. We elect people to represent us in Parliament and the provincial legislatures. We had a federal election last September and we had a provincial election in October 2020.
In both elections, there were candidates from different parties with different views on vaccines, vaccine mandates and passports. The parties who promised to take a science-based approach to fighting the pandemic won out and many lives were saved due to that. Unfortunately, pandemics cause disruptions which effect people in many ways such as employment and travel restrictions.
Lately, we have seen a noisy group of protesters driving around the country in big trucks disturbing people’s peace. These people are unelected, yet they carry signs with expletives about the prime minister and other leaders.
I saw one truck with a “hanging effigy” on the truck bed. It prompted thoughts of lynchings in the U.S. and the “Hang Mike Pence” drama on Jan. 6 when Trump supporters stormed the capital. They have created a living hell in downtown Ottawa for people who live and work there by blasting their horns at all hours and they have swarmed businesses without wearing masks and one of their members went to a high school and made racial slurs against a Grade 11 student telling her to go back where she came from.
They also shut down trade between Canada and the U.S. They have engaged in a lot of illegal threatening behaviour and weapons have been seized from some of them. They also have said that they want to bring down the government which Canadians voted for six months ago. They are backed by the likes of Tucker Carlson from Fox entertainment, who is urging them on in their seditious behaviour.
Donald Trump has also made derogatory, inciteful comments about the PM. Their rallying cry is freedom but what about the freedom of residents to a quiet home life or business owners in Ottawa to run a peaceful restaurant or shop or the freedom of businesses to trade across the border or of medical workers or student to go about their day without being harassed or the freedom to drive down the road or walk in your neighbourhood?
I think they have made their point and I think they should follow the laws like everyone else and behave respectfully to their fellow Canadians. We can’t live in a country where “might is right” and chaos and intimidation goes unchecked. Society requires certain restraints so that everyone can coexist in a peaceful and respectful environment. No Canadian is more or less important than any other Canadian under the law and no one is above the law. It’s a democracy. If you don’t like the law, change it but do it democratically. I hope the Freedom Convoy will disperse and go back to their jobs and their lives and allow the rest of Canadians to go about theirs.
Dan Theal, Burnaby
