No Church, No Park Benches, But Mass Rallies OK
Black Lives Matter protests separated rhetoric from reality.
I’ve been talking about a letter hundreds of churches sent Ontario Premier Doug Ford in May 2020 (see here and here). I’ve also discussed the penalties associated with sitting on a park bench in Toronto. (Since then, I’ve discovered a May 19 CBC article confirming that benches were also “strictly off-limits” in Ottawa parks - on pain of an $880-fine.)
All of this provides important context for what happened next. To recap, in a May 21 reply, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health zealously reminds the clergy that “all organized public events of over five people are prohibited.”
Two weeks later, massive Black Lives Matter rallies take place. The CBC estimates that between 4,000 and 5,500 people flooded into the streets of downtown Ottawa, where they were joined by the Prime Minister himself.
Did Justin Trudeau pay any price for breaking Ontario’s strict rules? Nope. Were thousands of people issued massive fines? Nada. In fact, the CBC tells us “Mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly also attended Friday's march.”
Ladies and gentlemen, behold Ontario in early 2020. Nothing is more important than safeguarding your health. Your duty to the Almighty in no way justifies putting frontline workers at risk. Don’t even think of gathering as a congregation for Sunday church service.
And then the Prime Minister, the police chief, and the mayor take part in a political rally with thousands of participants who utterly ignore social distancing rules. Here’s a crowd shot from Ottawa that day:
The CBC tells us a parallel protest happened in Toronto, where “police Chief Mark Saunders could be seen on one knee with protesters.” Below is a crowd shot from that city, which happens to be Ontario’s capital:
Double standards and two-tier policing were evident from the earliest months of the pandemic. When some people broke COVID rules, they got crushed by the authorities. Others flagrantly violated those rules with impunity.
Did the media call out this hypocrisy? Did politicians apologize and promise to do better? I’m afraid not.
Just a few of the many reasons the truckers finally said Enough is enough.
OH MY! Wow! This most certainly does put things in perspective Donna! Reminds me of the story Rebel News broke of Brampton mayor at the hockey rink with all his buddies for an “old timers” game one evening, while all recreation for the rest of the city’s residents had been stopped!