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OTTAWA – Liberal forecast here in the Nation’s Capital: rain, hail and locusts. With a possibility of sunshine, chirping birds, and limitless blue skies.

That, at least, was the Grit forecast at the 90th birthday party of the Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien in Ottawa Thursday night. Lovely and clear, but incoming clouds spelling total disaster. Uncertain, you might say.

This writer was there solely to toast Chretien, so the phone was off. Not notes were taken. But many, many conversations were had, with veteran Liberals from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island. It was revealing. But it wasn’t unanimous.

In attendance was the sitting Liberal Prime Minister, who was quite genteel, and kept his focus on the birthday boy. Also there: many of his cabinet ministers, particularly the ones with leadership ambitions. (You could tell they were ambitious, because they were offering to take selfies of people.)

And, of course, there were scores of Chretien-era former ministers, MPs, Senators and staffers. Tons of them.  All there to celebrate Chretien, and recall some of his many achievements – among them, winning three back-to-back Parliamentary majorities. A feat that has only been achieved by Sir Wilfred Laurier, more than a Century ago.

The attendees were from all over, but quite a few had stuck around the Nation’s Capital after Chretien resigned in 2003. Some did lobby work, some gave advice here and there, and some abandoned political life and got a job in the public service.

But all seemed to have kept their eyes fastened on Ottawa, and the political comings and goings during the ten-year reign of Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau.

What they had to say is significant, because the 350 people in attendance know how to win. They won more majorities than anyone since, and most anyone before. They know their stuff.

There were three camps. The pessimistic, the optimistic, and the undecided. Here’s the political weather forecast from each camp.

The pessimistic: This group -chiefly represented by those whose livelihood no longer depends on Liberal beneficence – foresee unmitigated disaster for the Liberal brand. This group speculated that a decade in the political wilderness was not just possible, it was inevitable.

The main reason, for the pessimists, wasn’t entirely Justin Trudeau’s fault. The country is in a foul mood, they intoned, and he isn’t the kind of guy you keep around when everyone is miserable.

Besides: Justin had overstayed his welcome, said the pessimists. Nearly a decade in power is plenty – as good as it gets. Time to change the channel.

If there was one criticism the pessimists had, however, it was this: Trudeau-era Liberals weren’t real Liberals. They had moved the party too far to the Left, and had become indistinguishable from the socialists. The woke stuff, in particular, had left the pessimists out in the cold.

The optimists: this group believes – and some cases, are convinced – that they can win again, with Justin. No, they did not attend the party wearing straight jackets.

On the morning of the big party, Abacus released a stunner of a poll, showing the Trudeau Grits a whopping 17 points back of Pierre Poilievre’s Tories. Seventeen points!

Pressed for the reasons for their sunny ways outlook, then, the optimists took out their crystal balls. As it were.

The Spring will see interest rate drops, they insisted – something with which most economists agree. The economic fundamentals – debt-to-GDP and the like – are better than any other G7 country. Also true.

Trudeau may not be a Chretien-style PM, they acknowledged. But he is a Chretien-style campaigner, they noted, and he too has won three back-to-back elections. (Although only one of them resulted in a majority.) Also true.

And, the optimists concluded, Poilievre is rage farmer. He doesn’t have any hope stuff on offer – it’s all anger and fear, 24/7. He thinks the country is broken, and the only people who believe that are the ones who wouldn’t vote Liberal if you put an unregistered long gun to their head.

You can’t sustain anger forever, the optimists said. Sooner or later, voters get exhausted by it. And that’s when Poilievre will run out of gas, say the optimists.

I repeat: they were not wearing straight jackets.

The undecided: This group tended to be mostly found in the private sector. They’d done their political bit, and they had moved on to pastures untainted by governmental overreach and bureaucratic machinations. They looked blessedly serene.

And, mostly, they didn’t know what was going to happen. They agreed that it was foolish to underestimate Trudeau, as three successive Conservative leaders had done (one of those leaders, by the by, sang a birthday ditty to Chretien in a video greeting, and he – Stephen Harper – brought the house down).

By the same token, said the undecided, it was foolish to dismiss a 17-point gap, too. With mere months to go before an election happens, they opined, double-digit deficits should not be sniffed at. They’ve been going on for months, and they’re real.

So, there you have it. The winningest faction within the winningest political party in Western democracy – and they’re all split on what the future holds, too. They, like everyone else, are peering at the skies and wondering. Do we go golfing, or do we head to the root cellar and batten any relevant hatches?

Chretien, meanwhile, saying nothin’. He wasn’t revealing which camp he belonged to. He told jokes, he brought us to tears, he was terrific.

If he ran again, he’d win another majority.

On that forecast, all present would agree.

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Follow the money.

In any scandal, that’s the rule: follow the money. When you see who is paying, and who is benefiting, you learn plenty.

Yesterday, this newspaper followed the money, and broke some news: anti-Israel protestors are getting paid to protest.

After the horrors of October 7 – and after the pro-Hamas crowd started showing up in big numbers, with professional-looking organizers and signage – suspicion grew. In the past, anti-Israel protests were rag-tag efforts, and few and far between.

The post-October 7 protests were anything but. They were big, they were noisy, and they were causing chaos from the island of Manhattan to the island of Vancouver. They looked like the sort of rallies that professional
political parties put together.

Did that many people really hate the Jewish state?

No. Because if you’re getting paid to be there – effectively just an actor – then you’re just playing a role. Which suggests that the anti-Israel protests are as phony as a three-dollar bill.

A recap of yesterday’s Toronto Sun scoop:

• a Victoria BC group called the Plenty Collective has been distributing thousands of dollars to individuals and groups to show up at anti-Israel rallies
• the Collective was dispersing as much as $20,000 a month, going back months
• the Plenty Collective gave priority to indigenous people and people of color – to project the false media notion that Israel was all-white, and opposed by a diverse group
• there managers would show up at anti-Israel rallies with vans stocked with professionally-rendered signs, banners and flags – and the organizers would wear uniforms and provide food and drink to the people they hired to be there

The scam wasn’t just happening in far away Victoria, BC. It’s been happening across the continent, too.

In December, Montreal pro-Israel activist Beryl Wajsman told this newspaper that police sources firmly believed that protestors in that city were also being paid. Organizers had divided the city up into sections, he said, with paid ward “captains” able to quickly put together noisy anti-Israel street demonstrations.

In the US, it has been confirmed that protestors are getting paid, as well. Millionaire tech mogul Neville Roy Singham has bankrolled multiple pro-Palestinian protests since last year.

His “People’s Forum” has organized multiple anti-Israel protests since Oct. 7 — and, prior to that, has helped spread propaganda favoring China’s communist regime. A massive 2023 New York Times investigation revealed Singham funded a group called Code Pink – which in turn has funded anti-Israel protests, along with allying with Hamas and Holocaust deniers.

Victoria-area Councillor Ian Ward, who has led an effort to expose the anti-Israel efforts of the Plenty Collective and its fellow travelers, says it’s critical that people know the truth about the ostensibly pro-Palestine protests.

“These organizations are paying people to be the face of their movement,” Ward says. “And it’s all organized by a lot of the same individuals and groups who have been arrested at past protests. They’re linked. And we know they are getting money from outside.”

Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the like have funded Hamas, Ward notes. It’s not a stretch to suggest they are funding protests in North America and Europe as well, he says. It’s not difficult to find proof of the linkages: a group calling itself the “Anarchist Movement of Vancouver Island,” for example, has been openly fundraising for pro-Hamas activities, using untraceable Bitcoin as its currency.

It isn’t easy to find evidence that anti-Israel protestors are just actors, and getting paid to show up. But it is critical that media and government pull back the mask, and expose who is really paying for the performance.

And, with anti-Semitism surging everywhere, it’s critical we do that now.

Follow the money.

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They’re being paid to protest.

What many have suspected has now been confirmed by this newspaper and a few courageous Canadians: pro-Palestine – and, increasingly, pro-Hamas – protestors are being paid to protest. To block highways and roads. To intimidate and threaten Jews and non-Jews. To cause chaos.

They’re being paid.

In years past, anti-Israel protests were typically small, disorganized and ineffective. Not many people came out. Since October 7, when 1,200 Israeli men, women, children and babies were slaughtered, and hundreds taken hostage, the protests have been dramatically different.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, participate. They’ve got professionally-rendered signs and banners. They’ve got transportation, and food and drink. And they’ve got organizers who wear uniforms and control the crowds.

And who distribute the cash.

This week, this newspaper was alerted to the fact that a Victoria, B.C. organization was distributing thousands of dollars to anti-Israel protestors. The Plenty Collective, as it calls itself, created what it called a “Solidarity Fund” for Victoria-area “folks or groups” to pay for “costs related to supporting or organizing actions in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian people.”

Said the Plenty Collective: “This fund is to help cover costs incurred when organizing or participating in local actions. This can include, but is not limited to, the costs of lost wages, supplies, items for fundraising, paying speakers, etc.”

Priority was given to Palestinian, black or Indigenous people. And thousands have been paid out for weeks now – typically close to $20,000 every month. The Plenty Collective did not respond to multiple attempts to seek comment.

Ian Ward is a municipal councillor for Colwood on Vancouver Island. He, along with local activist Charles Bodi, discovered the pay-a-protestor payment scheme. And he’s seen the effectiveness of the paid-protests up close. Says he: “They are highly organized. I’ve watched them. A van pulls up, and they’ve got flags, signs, and they’ve got organizers from the Plenty Collective wearing orange vests controlling the crowds.”

“And they have control because they are holding the cash for the protestors.”

Much of the money is being generated locally, says Ward, who was the first to break the news that Victoria city councillor Susan Kim – along with Ontario MPP Sarah Jama – had signed on to a pro-Hamas letter that denied Israeli women and girls were sexually assaulted on October 7. But some of the money, he says, seems to be coming from elsewhere: “We don’t see them being this organized, and this well-funded, without offshore money.”

It’s not just happening in Victoria, B.C. In the U.S., there is now confirmation that anti-Israel – and often anti-Semitic and violent – protestors are getting paid to protest. A multimillionaire tech mogul, Neville Roy Singham, has – along with his wife Jodie Evans – have been bankrolling pro-Palestinian protests since last year. Their “People’s Forum” has organized multiple anti-Israel protests since October 7 – including a number of efforts designed to “shut down” public and private sector offices. On November 24, they posted on X: “Are you ready to disrupt business as usual? No celebrating in peace while genocide takes place!”

Some of the anti-Israel funding has seemingly been right out in the open. On Craigslist, a now-deleted November ad read: “We are looking for 5-7 actors or activists to hold panels and distribute flyers in front of a venue as a peaceful, legal protest. Needed for November 24th, evening, 2-3 hours, paying $30/hour.”

November 24 was the same day, of course, as the pro-Palestine “shut down” protests, where 34 were arrested trying to disrupt the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and Black Friday sales.

“They’re paying for protestors to try and lend credibility to their movement,” says Ian Ward. “October 7 was just stage one. These carefully-crafted and controlled protests are a public relations campaign, and I think are the real objective.

“They are really an attack on Western democracy and Western values. Our way of life is literally being challenged here. And we are in danger.”

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In less than a week, we’ve seen them disrupting the Mayor’s skate party.

We’ve seen them scream curses and epithets at the regular folks there. We’ve seen them intimidating an elderly couple at the same event. We’ve seen them blocking highways and roads and getting coffee and doughnuts from the cops.

And, of course, we’ve someone – almost certainly one of their fellow travellers – firebomb a delicatessen and scrawl FREE PALESTINE on its walls.

Again: that’s in less than a week, in the City of Toronto, Canada.

Lots of questions: why aren’t the police doing more? Why isn’t Toronto – and other cities in Canada – cracking down on law-breakers, as New York City Mayor Eric Adams did this week, and haul away hundreds of “pro-Palestine” types blocking the Brooklyn Bridge?

The “they,” here, need to be defined. There are people who support Palestine, and oppose Israel’s government and the war, and are not anti-Semites. They post on social media and write letters to the editor, but that’s about it.

Then there’s a group in the ideological middle – mainly the younger Generation Z, according to multiple polls – who are actually pro-Hamas and anti-Israel. Much of this group are anti-Semitic, or on their way to embracing Jew hatred.

But they, too, tend to be keyboard warriors. They probably don’t mind picking up a brick, to quote the Clash, but they don’t ever actually toss it. They’re Slacktivists.

Then there is the third group, the hardcore. These are the ones we see on TV, and read about in the newspapers, and hear about on the radio. These masked thugs favour intimidation and violence, or the threat of violence, to make their point.

As this writer and others have argued, they are the hardcore: the blood-libelling, committed Jew-haters who meet the dictionary definition of “terrorism.” The ones who favour the use of violence, and/or intimidation, to make a political point.

Why do they do it?

More to the point: don’t they understand that they are losing support, and not gaining it? Because, make no mistake: they are.

Lots of polls have now been done across North America and Europe. Overwhelmingly, the majority – the silent majority, for now – are appalled by the behaviour of the Hamas horde. These respondents want the police to crack down on them. And, across the board, they are becoming less enamoured with the Palestinian cause because of the law-breaking, not despite it.

A sampling:

• A Leger-Postmedia poll found that “a strong majority of Canadians said they believed non-permanent residents who express hate towards minorities or support for terrorist groups such as Hamas should be deported from Canada.” And “51 per cent agreed with the statement that Canadian authorities “should do more to ensure newcomers accept Canadian values.” Up to and including deportation if they don’t.
• On the protests, the numbers are even more stark: “75 per cent also backed the notion that non-citizens should face deportation if they publicly express hatred towards a minority group or support a terrorist organization.” Hamas among them.
• In Britain, a pro-Palestine/Hamas protest on Armistice Day – their Remembrance Day – outraged a majority of Britons. Not only did they oppose the protests, polling found, but a majority wanted the protests banned entirely. And a significant number, Sky News reported, believed the protests in the U.K. “have mostly been about expressing hatred of Israel and Jewish people.”
• Meanwhile, a British YouGov poll found that respondents feel – by a factor of two to one – that police there have been “too soft” on the protestors. At least “41 per cent of respondents responded saying that the rules were ‘too relaxed, and should be tightened’.”
• Meanwhile, in the United States, the anti-Palestine-protestor view is much the same. As PBS reported: “Though larger than past Palestinian solidarity protests, they still do not necessarily reflect the views of most Americans on Israel. According to a PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted Nov. 6 to Nov. 9, most Americans, about six in 10, said they sympathize with Israel.” And: “The Palestinian solidarity protests have not been supported publicly by the vast majority of politicians.”

There’s more polls and surveys like those, but you get the point. The protests are turning off the majority of voters across Western democracy – including those who sympathize more with the Palestinian cause. Their tactics, in effect, are blowing up in their faces.

And, of course, the literal blowing up of things – as at a Jewish delicatessen in Toronto six days ago – sure isn’t helping their cause, either.

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It’s terrorism.

The firebombing of a Jewish business in Toronto last week, that is. The attack on International Delicatessen Foods (IDF) – and the FREE PALESTINE scrawled on its exterior wall by the firebomber(s) – literally meets every available definition of terrorism.

The Canadian Department of Justice defines terrorism in this way: “Section 83.01 of the Criminal Code defines terrorism as an act committed ‘in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause’ with the intention of intimidating the public ‘…with regard to its security’.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines terrorism similarly: “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations.”

Police were called to IDF, located on Steeles Avenue near Keele Street, at 6 a.m. last Wednesday. The inside of the deli was ablaze. No one was inside the delicatessen at the time – thankfully.

Some media downplayed the significance of the crime. The CBC’s headline read: “North York fire being investigated, no injuries reported.” Well, no. It was a bit more than that, CBC. Ask City Councillor Mike Colle, who was the first to bring the attack to the attention of many, on social media.

Said Colle in an interview: “This crosses the threshold. This is a terrorist act.”

And it is, by any accepted definition (see above).

Toronto police – like the CBC – have had a tendency to treat these criminal attacks as mere cases of mischief. That, for example, is how police initially treated the November 10 attack on a Bloor Street Indigo bookstore owned by a Jewish businesswomen, Heather Reisman. “Mischief.”

Only later did police and prosecutors elevate the charges against the 11 accused, to criminal harassment, a more serious charge. But the minimizing – the shrugging – about actual terrorism continues, with police and some media.

On Monday morning, for example, the Toronto Star ran a dishonest three-byline front-page story about the bookstore attack, headlining that it was mere “vandalism,” and extensively quoting an academic who whinged that charging the 11 “indicates a particular hostility and intolerance for these methods when they are done in support of Palestinian human rights.”

Mike Colle, for one, is fed up with the minimizers. He’s fed up with the shrugs. What happened at IDF is terrorism, he says. Call it by its right name.

“If we don’t treat this as an act of terror,” he says, “we’re going to have more of these vile acts taking place.”

So, Colle and fellow Councillor James Pasternak are having a press conference at IDF this afternoon – to demand that police treat the attack as terrorism. And to hammer the provincial and federal governments for not doing enough to combat surging anti-Semitic crime.

“Where are the province and the feds?” Colle thunders. “They’re completely missing in action!”

And they are. So, increasingly, are the police who are paid to enforce the laws that are passed by Ottawa and Queen’s Park. They’re missing in action, too – except, perhaps, to serve coffee and doughnuts to pro-Hamas types blocking access to and from the 401. An event that caused headlines around the world, and will forever bring shame on the Toronto Police Service.

The minimizing, the shrugging, continued on the weekend: police permitted pro-Palestinian thugs to break up the mayor’s skating party, and scream curses at an elderly couple, there simply for a skate. No charges. No arrests.

We need more politicians like Mike Colle and James Pasternak, who know what is really happening, and what to call it.

Which is terrorism.

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Jean Chretien is turning 90 this week. And what a life he has had.

Let me tell you one of my favorite Chretien stories, about just one afternoon in that extraordinary life.

One sunny day a few years ago, I was in Vancouver for business. Turned out Chretien was, as well. We decided to get together for lunch, down near Water Street in Gastown.

It was a nice day, so the former Prime Minister suggested we go for a walk. Off we went, along with the one (1) RCMP guy assigned to him. We headed towards Waterfront Station. People would do a double-take when they saw him, then smile, then wave to him and say “Hey Chretien!” Things like that. Happened a lot.

We got to Waterfront Station, and there was a great big guy there. He was sitting on the sidewalk, looking pretty rough, and he might have been homeless. He got up and started walking rapidly towards us, his face stern.

Just when I was thinking that I would need to become a bodyshield for the former Prime Minister, the rough-looking guy stuck out a hand as big as a ham.

“Chretien!” He bellowed. “Thanks for keeping us out of Iraq! You did a good job! Got five bucks?”

We all laughed, of course. And Chretien, still laughing, reached into his wallet – and it wasn’t one of those fancy Italian wallets, either, it looked like he got it for a fill up at Petro Canada – and took out five bucks and gave it to the guy. And then they proceeded to talk about all manner of things, like they had known each other forever.

There are a million other stories like that about Joseph Jacques Jean Chretien, 18th of 19 children, 20th of 23 Prime Ministers.  A million.

You just need to walk along any street in Canada, and I mean anywhere, and people will stop him to shake his hand or offer best wishes or ask for a selfie. I don’t know if anybody has ever done a poll on the most-loved Prime Minister, but if they had, I’m pretty sure my former boss would top it.

He turns 90 this week. He still goes in to the office. He still talks on the phone with Presidents and Prime Ministers, Kings and Queens.

He still offers free political advice to whoever asks for it.  The recipients of the advice include unabashed fans, like one Stephen Harper, P.C. (Not so much the woke bloke, however, the one with the Chewbacca socks.  That one doesn’t like getting advice from people with experience. And it shows.)

At 90, Chretien still waterskis at his little place in Shawinigan, or plays pickleball, or goes kiteboarding – or he heads to Harvey’s for a burger, a bemused Mountie in tow. And then people stop by his table to say hello, or ask for a selfie. He always stands to greet them.

That’s an important distinction, I think. Chretien is beloved, in part, because people sense that he does not regard himself as better than them, or better than anyone. And he doesn’t.

He didn’t let the job go to his head, you see, and the statistics suggest he was pretty successful at his day job. When he offered me the job of speechwriter in the Summer of 1990 – and, believe me, if there is a Maytag repairman equivalent in Canadian politics, it’s being speechwriter to Jean Chretien – lots of friends and family told me I was crazy. He’ll never become Prime Minister, they said. You’re throwing away a promising legal career, they said.

“Well,” I’d say many times over the subsequent years, “he kind of did all right, didn’t he?”

He certainly did. Forty years in elected politics, never a defeat. Held just about every major portfolio in federal politics, never a finding of wrongdoing by him. Balanced the budget more than once, kept Canada together more than once, won three majorities in a row.  Fiscally prudent, socially progressive. Gave the Shawinigan Handshake™️ to a guy who deserved it.

And, through it all, he kept his connection to the people. One time, we were waiting for him to arrive to start an event at a restaurant somewhere. I asked one of my fellow aides where the leader was. He laughed. “He’s in the kitchen,” said the aide. “He always enters through the kitchen, so he can talk to the staff and shake their hands.”

That’s Chretien. That’s the little guy from Shawinigan.

Some of us who worked for him and who love him are gathering in Ottawa this week to sing happy birthday. Ninety years: by any standard, that’s a long life.

And Jean Chretien did some amazing things with that life.

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What does it take?

What does it take for police and prosecutors to do their job, that is.

What does it take?

Since October 7, when a modern shoah commenced, this country has shamed itself. This country has witnessed the biggest surge in Jew hatred since the years leading to the Second World War. It has led to headlines around the world.

Now, in the Trudeau era, it has become difficult for Canada to distinguish itself on the international stage. We are not known for very much, these days.

But since October 7, we have achieved international distinction for something few wanted and fewer foresaw: we have become a world leader in unsolved anti-Semitic crime. We are gold medalists in that.

A Jewish school in Montreal is shot up – not once, but twice. The police have no suspects. No one has been charged.

Synagogues and Jewish community centers are fire-bombed in Montreal, multiple times. The police have no suspects. No arrests.

A Muslim leader, before 20,000 witnesses, calls on God to exterminate Jews. He still walks the streets. No charges.

And, this week, a Jewish-owned business in the Toronto area is fire bombed. The supermarket had a sign out front, calling itself “IDF “– International Delicatessen Foods. Was the supermarket fire bombed, and its windows smashed, because of the sign?

Well, whoever was behind the attack erased any doubt: they spray-painted the words FREE PALESTINE on the walls.

So, again: what does it take?

What, specifically, have police and prosecutors done to end this wave of anti-Semitic crime? What have they done to signal to the Jew haters that they will be caught and punished?

Not much.

So, as a result, the Jew-hating, pro-Hamas thugs grow more bold. They hiss death threats at people, right in front of the police, and get away with it. They make lots of threats online, and giddily promote hatred and genocide. They deny murder, they deny rape.

And, for week after week, they have taken to blocking access to and from the 401. The busiest highway in North America.

What does it take?

It should be pointed out, perhaps, that the police haven’t been entirely silent. They’ve issued lots of stern-sounding tweets, yes. They’ve put out lots of press releases, yes.

But it’s been a lot of noise, signifying nothing, to appropriate Shakespeare. It’s been a lot of bluster and BS.

No arrests for the sorts of crimes described above.

The politicians, too, haven’t done much. Apart from issuing social media statements of the  “thoughts and prayers” variety, few of them have shown any real determination to stamp out this hateful crime wave.

Toronto City Councillor Mike Colle is one of the few. He actually was the first to draw the IDF fire-bombing to everyone’s attention. Colle has been livid, and fired off a second letter to federal and provincial attorneys-general, demanding that “they urgently take action and enact immediate legislative measures… to address the unprecedented rise in hate-related acts.”

We can only hope that Mike Colle gets a response, and gets some action.

Meanwhile, the rest of us can only hope that our police forces will awake from their slumber before it is too late – for Jews and for the rest of us, too.

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Sorry, partisans, but you can’t have it both ways.

January 2022: protestors start blocking Ottawa streets to make a political point. Police are ultimately used to clear them out. Some conservatives are very unhappy the police used force to do so, while some progressives are happy.

January 2024: protestors start blocking Toronto streets to make a political point. Police haven’t cleared them out using force (yet). But some conservatives are very unhappy police haven’t used force (yet) – while some progressives are happy they haven’t.

I know, I know: both sides are mad at me, now. Sorry. But you can’t oppose (or favour) clearing out the Ottawa road occupiers, and now take the completely opposite position with the pro-Palestine road occupiers. It’s illogical, it’s inconsistent, and it’s unfair.

Two years ago, this writer strongly favoured the police clearing out the Ottawa occupiers, with force if necessary. As I wrote in these pages at the time:

“Enough is enough. It’s time to invoke the Emergencies Act…The Act would give the government the ability to prevent more troublemakers from traveling to Ottawa to extend the siege there.  It would prevent ‘protestors’ from blocking border crossings — including, as they did in Windsor, with children.

“It would allow the authorities to remove trucks and barricades that have been used to shut down the national capital — and cripple billions of dollars in cross-border trade. And it allows government to compensate citizens and businesses who have been victimized by the lawlessness.”

And, two years later, just about every word of that also applies to the “pro-Palestine” (read: kind-of, sort-of pro-Hamas) protestors, who are now regularly blocking access to and from Toronto’s 401, the busiest highway in North America. Not only are they hurting local businesses and residents – like the Ottawa occupiers did – they are using their presence to intimidate the people (mainly Jews) who live in those areas.

What’s fair is fair, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander – and any other cliché that applies. You simply can’t be okay with one group blocking roads and intimidating locals, and then oppose it when another group does it. The law, if it is to matter at all, has to be applied without fear or favour. It has to be equitable.

At just about this point in this opinion column, or course, partisans on the Left and the Right are steaming mad, and want to argue that the two situations are completely, totally different. Right about now, they’re dreaming up distinctions they hope make a difference.

But they are distinctions which don’t amount to a difference. In international law, blockades are considered acts of war. In statute law, it is also illegal: in Alberta, for example, the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act properly makes it against the law for “blockades, protests or similar activities” to damage or harm essential infrastructure like roads.

And in Ontario, during the Ottawa occupation, Premier Doug Ford (rightly) applied the provincial equivalent of the Emergencies Act days before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did so to stop blockades of roads and border crossings. Meanwhile, Canada’s Criminal Code’s section 423 makes blocking roads a crime – punishable by five years in prison.

For centuries, the non-criminal common law has done likewise: going back to the Seventies, the Supreme Court of Canada has held that “authorities were not only entitled but duty bound, as peace officers…[to ensure] the right of free access of the public to public streets.”

In international law, in Canada’s criminal law, in our statutory laws, in Centuries of common law – it’s the the iron-clad rule: you are not allowed to block public roads and highways with impunity. And the police have always had the authority to arrest and detain you for doing so.

So, in case of the Ottawa occupation and the “pro-Palestine” occupations, the law must be applied consistently and fairly. If it was right and proper to arrest and detain the Ottawa occupiers who refused to leave that city’s streets, it’s now right and proper to arrest and detain the pro-Palestine/anti-Semitic occupiers who are refusing to do likewise on the 401’s exit ramps.

The law is the law. If you apply it in one case, you need to apply it in all similar cases.

So, why haven’t the police arrested and cleared out the anti-Israel mobs?

For that question, I do not have an answer.

[Kinsella is a lawyer and former member of the executives of the provincial and federal bar associations.]

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