Voices January 27, 2022
No place for divide and conquer in Canada
By Paul Schratz - Life In The Schratz Lane
Prior to last year’s federal election I wrote about Canada’s need for leadership in the wake of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s attempt to turn abortion into a divisive election issue by revoking the charitable status of crisis pregnancy centres.
“The ability for someone to pull Canadians together is as important an issue as any this election,” I wrote. “As we try to navigate the storms and come out on the other side without mutiny, we need a captain at the helm who can keep the crew together.”
Since then, we’ve watched as governments across Canada have divided people even further, implementing harsher pandemic measures even as the virus becomes less threatening every day. Canadians are becoming estranged from each other as gaps widen between people with differing views on everything from health to governance to liberty.
The sad account of division and conflict in the Kamloops and Prince George dioceses in this week’s issue illustrates the schisms that are spreading across Canada as a result of our response to the pandemic and, unfortunately, attempts by many people to encourage discord. Our Prime Minister is a case in point.
Observing the convoy of trucks descending on Ottawa in protest over pandemic measures, he decided again to use a polarizing issue to his political advantage. He said the drivers were “a fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.” Instead of considering the pain his country was in and trying to alleviate it, he decided to pound a hammer down on the wedge that was already cleaving Canadians further from each other.
When it became obvious he had gone too far, he called a timeout for himself by going into self-isolation due to a recent COVID exposure, an unnecessary measure that conveniently necessitated his absence from the office just as the convoy was to arrive in town.
From British Columbia to Halifax, in the icy frost of a Canadian winter, the truck drivers have been converging on a capital where politicians have been in short supply over the last two years.
The convoy itself is a response to many things but it essentially was the product of a perfect storm of pandemic restrictions and mandates, government bureaucracy, U.S relations, political calculus, economic worries, travel restrictions, and supply chain difficulties.
Out of all that emerged the truck drivers. There could probably be no better a representation of the average Canadian than truck drivers – young and old, recent immigrants and multi-generation Canadians, wearing ball caps and turbans, driving diesel-guzzling metal hulks on asphalt strips that unite the country more effectively than our political leaders do.
They have a right to be treated better by their prime minister. So do Canadians who have sacrificed much in trusting the political leaders they put in office. They’ve been failed not only by those leaders but by many of the country’s authorities and institutions. We’ve now seen the danger and consequences of putting absolute power in the hands of elected officials.
Scripture teaches us to have respect for authority. Hebrews 13: 17 says, “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.”
For two years Canadians have placed their confidence in their leaders and submitted to their authority, but now is the time for political leaders to give an account, at least from a constitutional perspective.