THE MESS OUR COUNTRY IS IN
There’s little I can add to the ocean of existing commentary on the sorry mess our country is in, but I want to get some personal observations off my chest.
1. That five hereditary chiefs from B.C. can ruin the economy of a democratic country is patently absurd. This is equivalent to five of Queen Elizabeth’s great-grandchildren having a veto over Canadian legislation.
2. Many of the protesters across the country are just wrong-headed troublemakers who would be better advised to get their satisfaction by contributing productively to society rather than indulging in radical anarchy. (One such protester I saw being interviewed said she “may be technically” breaking the law. No, ma’am. You are criminally breaking the law.) And covering their faces is indicative that they don’t really have the courage of their convictions and know that they’re in the wrong.
3. The notion that the federal and provincial governments can’t order the police to enforce a court injunction is utter nonsense. The commissioner of the RCMP reports directly to the Minister of Public Safety (effectively the solicitor general), Bill Blair. Similarly, the commissioner of the OPP reports to the Ontario Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Sylvia Jones.
4. Yes, Indigenous people have been badly mistreated for decades, and the time is long past due for the federal government to more thoughtfully and vigorously offer appropriate redress. But the Indigenous people themselves also have to step up. Most particularly, the majority of the hereditary chiefs are in favour of the pipeline, so it’s time for them to put their recalcitrant minority in its place.
THE MAIN CULPRIT IS JUSTIN TRUDEAU
For the last five years Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been giving lip service to being the all-time greatest proponent of reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous people. He’s a proven master at virtue signalling, but what has he actually done?
Well, he expelled Jody Wilson-Raybould, perhaps the most prominent Indigenous person in the country at the time, from his cabinet and the Liberal caucus because she was steadfastly doing her job. He appointed the dismally unqualified Carolyn Bennett, a white medical doctor from a well-to-do Toronto riding, as Minister of Indigenous Relations. (No wonder Indigenous leaders refuse to meet with her!) His reconciliation efforts over the last five years have been basically pandering rather than substantive solutions
But most egregious of all was his running around Africa and Europe on a massively expensive ego trip while the crisis at home spun out of control. (Not to mention his warm, smiling handshake with Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, who probably orchestrated shooting down the plane in which dozens of Canadians died.)
During the 2015 federal election campaign Stephen Harper famously labelled Justin Trudeau as “not ready” to be prime minister. As his pathetic, empty, repetitious, comments in the House of Commons during Tuesday’s emergency debate clearly showed, he still isn’t. Trudeau was appropriately savaged by Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, and Yves-Francois Blanchet. Blanchet’s line that “he had just re-heard one of Trudeau’s 2015 campaign speeches” was particularly apt and bitingly effective.
Trudeau’s subsequent refusal to invite opposition leader Andrew Scheer to a leaders briefing was definitely the most childish, and probably the pettiest, political response in Canadian parliamentary history.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S MESS
For some time now many baseball people have been grumbling that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is the wrong man for the job, their main complaint being that he doesn’t seem to have a feel for the game. Their ranks probably swelled after his bungling of the Houston Astros World Series cheating situation.
Manfred was far too lenient in his punishment of the team. The Astros should be barred from participating in post-season play for at least the next three years, and their 2017 World Series win should carry an asterisk. His reluctance to take on the players association by at least trying to punish culpable players was hardly leader-like. But the straw that broke many camel’s backs was his referring to the World Series trophy as “just a piece of metal.”
Does this man not realize that winning this trophy is what playing 162 regular season games and a possible 20 playoff games is all about? And it’s called the Commissioner’s Trophy. He’s since apologized, but his tone-deaf comment suggests that his naysayers have a valid point.
It will be interesting to see how Manfred handles the vigilante justice that is sure to take place during early Astro games this spring.