Ontario Premier Doug Ford sits in the Ontario Legislature during Question Period on Nov. 1.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
We need to talk about the way we talk – to each other, at each other.
The public discourse has sunk to nauseating depths, and it’s affecting more than our Twitter feeds (for those of us still on Elon Musk’s platform, as its new owner hurls insults at users and posts then deletes a crude conspiracy theory).
We are living in what is increasingly a culture of meanness and bullying. And that bullying is infecting not just the public discourse, but the way government operates.
Witness Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Keeping Students in School Act, so named to earn sympathy from parents and the public. Using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ notwithstanding clause to suspend workers’ rights and impose a contract aunion rejected – as the Ford government proposed – is a bully move, and it is being threatened against education support workers.
These are the support workers who clean up your kids’ vomit, who track you down when your child is sick, who pick up discarded needles from playgrounds before children arrive for school. These are the educational assistants who help special needs students learn with their peers. These are the early childhood educators who care for your children in the tender kindergarten years.
Even before inflation sent prices through the grocery-store roof, the pay for these workers – mostly women – was insufficient. Now, they face a government willing to pass a bill to suspend their right to demand better through fair bargaining and striking – an extraordinary move, and an extraordinarily nasty one.
On Monday, as this bill was in the works, Mr. Ford posted a video of his smiling self in his Muskoka sweatshirt, carving a pumpkin and reminiscing about Halloweens past. Leave it to Beaver‘s Eddie Haskell came to mind: grinning politely at Mrs. Cleaver, but when her back was turned, picking on Beaver and Wally – the children.
You want to see what happens when the bullies take over? Check out the Emergencies Act inquiry. The “Freedom Convoy” rode into Ottawa and harassed the city with its horns and its hot tubs. And its participants and leaders are now trying to gaslight the country by claiming the protest was a positive event, not meant to disrupt the city. It was like Woodstock! Peace and love, baby!
A description of a stuffed dummy with the face of a howling baby and the word “honk” on its chest outside the inquiry was a perfect illustration of the immature behaviour this gang was – and still is – up to. The mocking laughter, the childish memes they post, their profane flags targeting the Prime Minister – these were the actions of people who suddenly felt powerful, and decided to use that power in the pettiest of ways.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, I suppose, that this culture of meanness has infected the hallowed halls of governance, given that that’s where it got its big boost, south of the border. When you have a presidential candidate who mocks a disabled reporter, or suggests women accusing him of sexual assault were not hot enough for him to have done so, and people actually laugh and, worse, go on to elect him – something’s up with society.
Donald Trump is gone from power, but the nastiness remains. In the American south this summer, I saw a billboard that read, “Every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord – Even the Democrats,” next to a picture of a devil’s pitchfork. I saw a bumper sticker on a pick-up truck that read, “This truck runs on liberal tears.” At a wholesome theme park, one patron wore a T-shirt declaring, “I’m not one of the sheep,” over a map of the United States.
Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in a home invasion last week, and instead of receiving unanimous cross-party condemnation and expressions of concern, this vicious assault was used laughingly by certain Republican elements. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a photo of a hammer over a pair of men’s underwear with the words, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” Imagine amplifying something crude and cruel like that to score political points? Imagine something like that having the ability to score political points?
Earlier this week, I wrote that I was considering leaving Twitter because of the seemingly increasing nastiness under Mr. Musk’s leadership. I received responses, public and private, calling me a baby, a whiner and much worse. Who are these people behind these keyboards? Do they chuckle and think they’re smart as they name-call and finger-point? Do they not know how they appear to be quite the opposite?
And this was nothing compared with the harassment many of my colleagues have experienced.
It’s gross. And this toxic culture of incivility is not simply unpleasant. The bullying from on high is bad for democracy, as we are seeing in Ontario. There’s a word for this kind of systemic bullying, with its cruelty and oppression: It’s called tyranny. This needs to stop before we get there.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
