THE ACT

I have such sympathy for the people in Ottawa. Imagine all the pain and suffering they had to endure with honking horns and not being able to use Wellington Street. It must have been almost earth-shattering, if not cataclysmic! Of course we had to use the Emergency Measures Act (or whatever it’s called – for now, let’s just call it THE ACT, as opposed to The Acts of the Apostles) – better than calling in the tanks which as my cousin would attest wouldn’t have been right for the job anyway. And what’s a little humour between cabinet ministers – so much better than old sourpuss Harper. Yes, it was about time…I mean the economy in Ottawa was at a standstill. No one could even think about going to work (of course most were working remote anyway and probably had to send a friend to take pictures or recordings, but I digress…)!

No, it was never time to do anything to protect those workers on the Coastal Gas Link project who were assaulted and seriously threatened by people who no one really knows what they stand for. It could be hereditary chiefs, if people actually know how such positions come about. But working on a project approved by every elected Band Council who wanted the economic opportunities it would bring – whoa, that’s merely a creation of the terrible colonial white folk (who also brought the wheel, the colour tv and the cell phone to disrupt life wherever they brought them). So let those workers cower in their cabs, that isn’t impacting the economy. (How do I know: the PM told Germany to forget about getting any kind of gas from Canada!) Besides there weren’t enough Mounties or military to send to that outpost – we needed them in Ottawa to watch idling diesel trucks.

It’s a good thing that railways are unimportant to the economy. Could you imagine the trouble it would have caused to bring in THE ACT to get freight moving again? My goodness, that was a legitimate Aboriginal protest in support of the people attacking the Coast Gas Link project. They were exercising their rights to free expression and free speech. Please don’t confuse that with the horrific sound of airhorns and idling diesel engines.

Oh, I can hear some of you now complaining that I am not bringing up the border issues. Well, the day that we brought in THE ACT, those problems had already been solved by the police. I guess there were some of them who hadn’t got the message that they were to be in Ottawa protecting the ears of the populace there. I’m sure since that day they have been properly scolded by either the ever phone-savvy head of the RCMP or the former police-chief now cabinet minister who never really knows which hat he is wearing.

Yes, these are troubling times in our country. A government panic struck about the economy of Ottawa gets serious about horn-honking while benignly lets the fossil fuel industry sit idly down while the rest of the world ramps it all up. Europe may freeze this winter but don’t dust off those old western stickers (remember: let those eastern bastards freeze in the dark). Nobody in the west, particular all those Ukranian descendants in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba would not love to be shipping as much oil & gas as possible to Europe. Oh I know about the climate crisis – and over 90% of it is from forces beyond our control – and I realize that it is happening. But our unwillingness to help our friends and allies is not going to reduce the CO2 in any atmosphere, although we will end up being much poorer and even more unable to make the changes being clamored for!

Let me suggest a middle case: can you imagine if instead of THE ACT, governments had put their minds to how to get more of our resources to market and then acted on that? Maybe then we might have put ourselves in a position to afford a military to defend the north, pay the interest on our astronomical debt now that interest rates are rising, and invest in alternate energy schemes. Ah, but then we might have been accused of being in the real world and that is not nearly as much fun as exchanging e-mails about tanks, crying about what the US government thinks of us, and making sure people in Ottawa get to sleep at night.

There are no winners around the use of THE ACT. In fact, I find the entire show sad and such a statement on our national leadership. You want an example of leadership: look at the picture of Lanny MacDonald and Darryl Sittler holding up Borje Salming’s arms so he could wave to the crowd recognizing his hall of fame career two weeks before his death from ALS. THE ACT didn’t take leadership or courage – not in this day and age. To misquote Eva Peron: definitely weep for me, Canada!

g.w.