Address the hurt instead of making matters worse

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/01/2023 (721 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Erin O’Toole’s recent plea for an end to political polarization is one that should not go unnoticed.

The former Conservative Party of Canada leader, who was ousted during the so-called “freedom convoy” occupation in downtown Ottawa last winter, posted on his blog last Thursday calling on elected leaders to bridge the divide between Canada’s far-left- and far-right-leaning residents.

What prompted his post, he said, was the prevalence of “F—k Trudeau” flags and signs that have become associated with the freedom convoy and its supporters.

“The proliferation of these types of political displays in recent years are a sign that we are slowly becoming desensitized to political stunts and aggressive rhetoric whether it comes from the left or right,” he wrote. “This tone of division and mistrust is slowly becoming the new normal in politics.”

O’Toole partially blames the infiltration of American politics in Canadian society as well as social media for amplifying polarization in our country. He says elected officials on both the left and the right have a duty to “resist the pull towards the extremes and to try and focus the political debate on real issues and solutions.”

Now, O’Toole’s blog post could come across as hypocritical considering there were times when he himself participated in personal attacks against Trudeau, such as the time he went viral for saying the Liberal leader’s office should be moved to a porta-potty.

Whether his message was genuine or politically motivated, he has a point.

What we have right now is a Conservative leader eager to capitalize on Canadians’ rage to strengthen his own bid for the prime minister’s office, and a Liberal party poised too high on its horse to acknowledge and address the real threats to democracy that are brewing down below.

As long as our elected leaders continue to stoke the fire — whether that’s by contributing to polarizing rhetoric, or by simply not saying anything at all in hopes the problem will disappear on its own — our country will suffer.

And a country divided is a country vulnerable to outside interference, of which we’ve already seen examples. For instance, an online fundraiser launched during the freedom convoy protests to support the movement accepted funds from donors outside of Canada, prompting warnings from security experts who said the lack of transparency around such crowdfunding platforms makes it difficult to know whether the money is coming from malevolent sources with malicious goals.

Pierre Poilievre, who courted members of the freedom convoy during the protests in Ottawa, admitted last week there is a rage issue in Canada and denounced the anti-Trudeau flags. The Tory leader claimed Canadians are angry because they are hurting. It’s a softer, more measured response than we’ve previously seen from Poilievre, but that doesn’t make up for the gallons of fuel he himself has poured onto the fire.

If Canadians are truly hurting, as Poilievre says, then the onus is on all our elected leaders — not just those who have formed government — to address that hurt rather than take advantage of or ignore it.