Commentary
It’s OK to insult conservatives, truckers, and vaccine skeptics, but it’s not OK to insult Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the federal NDP. That’s the lesson to be taken from acting Peterborough police chief Tim Farquharson. After protestors at a May 10 provincial election rally in Peterborough called Singh a traitor, Farquharson called their actions “morally unacceptable” and their belief systems “reprehensible, unconscionable, and in some cases, criminal.”
Double standards on speech and conduct are baked into our current political order. Burning churches and blocking railways are blows in support of social justice, but peacefully protesting vaccine mandates constitutes a public order emergency. Defying lockdown rules is a threat to public safety when parishioners gather for church services in parking lots, but not when thousands gather for Black Lives Matter marches. Law-abiding gun owners are vilified while minimum sentences for gun crimes are eliminated. The hypocrisy of our authorities is no accident. Their choices are deliberate and calculated….