Guest Column: Show your true colours
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on September 1, 2018.
Although there are many things that I would never agree with when it comes to discussions with my Liberal, NDP and other left-leaning friends, I have always believed that those people were staunch supporters of our democracy and our freedom. I believed that we all supported free speech and free expression of ideas and we would agree to disagree but would support the right of every individual to have his point of view on any topic and be able to express that point of view. Although the laws differ slightly between Canada and the United States, both have set some legal limits on the level of speech that promote hatred and violence against anyone or any idea. It seems that whatever starts in the U.S. finds its way into Canada in some form or fashion.Lately it seems that the fervent support of freedom of speech and acceptance of all ideas and people by the left-leaning factions in the U.S. has somehow evolved into something completely different. Antifa no longer wishes to allow expressions, by anyone, of any idea that they do not agree with or support. Rather than allowing the expression of ideas by all sides of the political spectrum, they feel justified in preventing right leaning speakers from talking, even in university settings. They actually encourage and utilize the exact tactics that they claim to oppose. They feel justified in masking their faces, damaging property and even harassing citizens going about their daily lives in order to suppress ideas they oppose. These are the things they accuse the alt-right of doing but they fail to acknowledge their own violent acts of discrimination while preaching love and acceptance of all. Some might argue that their feelings of justification are merely a symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome but this began long before Trump came on the scene. The reality is that they fear they are losing the political battle with respect to promoting their ideals. The thought of acceptance of all, love for all, open arms and open borders has morphed into something completely different. Now hate for anyone who expresses a point of view that they dislike is justifiable and any steps taken to thwart those view, even with the use of violence, is laudable. Expressions of any view they find nonconformist makes you a bigot, racist, misogynist, even a traitor. The hypocrisy is that these expressions of hate are the very thing, they claim to fight against, yet they are the worst purveyors of it. As Canadians, we often think we are above this even as our prime minister foils trade deals and relations with other countries while trying to impose what he calls Canadian values on other countries around the world. He claims we are totally accepting of all races and refugees from around the world. We claim to be the climate good guys and leaders of the world. Recently, a citizen questioned Mr. Trudeau about the cost and the wisdom of accepting large numbers of refugees into our county and the impact that would have on us. Our PM chastised her suggesting that her thoughts were racists and unbecoming of a citizen of Canada. So it seems that expressing a view that does not convey the PM’s world view is also racist and not welcome in Canada. Amazingly, this woman was a Quebecer which, the PM has told us in the past, are better that the rest of Canadians. It seems that our prime minister is now designing the world view for all of Canada and anyone who does not agree with and support his view is not deserving of this county. Instead of working to preserve our economy, safety and culture with reasonable levels of legal, thoroughly vetted immigration, he demeans us by claiming those who do not agree with him are not worthy of Canada and much less that he claims to be. It is not racist to protect our culture, safety and economy with levels of immigration that allow proper vetting and assimilation into this county. There are many examples in Europe of high crime rates, cultural enclaves, economic problems and other issues arising from uncontrolled migration and immigration. We need to learn from the mistakes of others and our prime minister should be leading the charge, not looking down his nose at Canadians who wish to ensure that our cultural evolves at the proper pace and is not forced by outsiders. Paul McLennan moved to Alberta more than 20 years ago as a member of the RCMP. He remained in Alberta after retirement in 2002, taught driving part time and settled in Medicine Hat in 2011. 8-7
