Rhetoric in the House of Commons is getting pretty rancid. Gary Mason writes:
Something rather remarkable happened in the House of Commons earlier this week: A sitting MP accused this country’s Prime Minister of running a jackboot dictatorship.
And in his next breath, he referenced Russian President Vladimir Putin, a dictator currently unleashing death and destruction on a peaceful democratic neighbour.
Yes, federal Conservative MP Brad Redekopp (Saskatoon West) really did compare Ottawa’s use of the Emergencies Act to help end the so-called “freedom convoy” occupation of Ottawa to what Mr. Putin is doing to Ukraine.
It gets worse.
When Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen got up to complain about the language Mr. Redekopp used, Conservative MP Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge) jumped to her colleague’s defence.
“Mr. Speaker,” she began. “I just did a quick review in the dictionary. According to the Oxford dictionary, a dictator is a ‘ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.’
“There are many Canadians who would hold the view that this applies to Mr. Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada.”
This is what passes for parliamentary debate in this country in 2022.
This nastiness has a geographical centre:
It likely isn’t coincidence that Ms. Thomas and Mr. Redekopp are from the Prairies. Alberta and Saskatchewan represent the epicentre of anti-Trudeau rage in Canada. That same rage was at the heart of the Ottawa protest and related border blockades. Vaccine mandates were just a proxy, the cover used to give the insurgency some vague credibility. We can’t forget that organizers had drawn up a manifesto that included the demand that the current government, and Mr. Trudeau in particular, be removed from office.
But the nastiness is not limited to politicians from the prairies:
Politics in this country have changed a lot over the last number of years. Civility can still be found when you look hard enough but it can also feel like an endangered species. Ideological differences shouldn’t be fuelled by the demonization of those you disagree with. And yet that happens all the time, especially with this Prime Minister.
When political opponents become enemies, we're in trouble.
Image: Linked In
