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.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
