Justin Employs A PET Gambit To Scapegoat Snowbirds, Change The Narrative
Q: “At any cost? How far would you go with that? How far would you extend that?”
This infamous exchange— in the October Criss of 1970— between Tim Ralfe of CBC and then-PM Pierre Trudeau was a bracing moment for civil liberties in Canada. Trudeau had used the War Measure Act to round up dozens of people in Quebec whose only crime was to disagree with Trudeau about the future of the province in Canada.
Many felt that, in his zeal to round up the kidnappers of Pierre Laporte and James Cross, Trudeau had breached the sacred rights of liberty and security of many. In case anyone was unsure, Trudeau threw in a few barbs about “bleeding hearts” and “weak-kneed” people who were upset by the sight of soldiers on the streets of Montreal.
(Not a few of whom noted the irony of Trudeau, who dodged military service in WW II, blithely calling out the same military to rescue his government 30 years later.)
But Trudeau knew his audience, particularly in English-speaking Canada. His tough talk won him applause at the time and the fealty of many to this very day, 21 years after his death. His gimlet-eyed interview bought him support even when he later tried to wreck the economy.
It’s hard not to draw the comparison between Trudeau pêre and his son Justin, now a prime minister himself fighting for his political life in the midst of a Covid19 crisis he’s bungled at every step.
On the heels of his swing-and-a-miss on obtaining Chinese vaccines for Covid-19 victims Trudeau has been frantically casting about for ways to change the topic. Even though positives and deaths are plummeting (there were 257 Covid-related deaths on Dec, 29. February 8 saw 68; January 11 saw 11,303 cases. February 8 saw 2,677) Trudeau keeps getting pummelled about vaccines.
How to deflect? He thinks he’s onto something with his current Snowbird Detention gambit. In whipping up resentment from snowbound citizens against international travellers Trudeau has used the most base political calculation to wriggle out of the daily vaccine drama.
Sure, under two percent of cases are traced to travel. And the virus is everywhere. Trudeau is betting the Karens will nonetheless see it all as just desserts for the privileged as those staying behind shiver through winter in their basement retreats.
The detention program being currently implemented is Kafkaesque in its insensitivity. Travellers must present at the airport with a proper negative test done within 72 hours of arrival. Despite this bill of non-infection arriving passengers are then forced to do another test at the airport. They’re then confronted by police and staff in hazmat suits who shove them into vans with blackened windows.
They’re sealed into nearby hotels covered in plastic sheeting for 3-14 days (“three- or four-star” hotels according to Alberta’s feckless Jason Kenney). They are taken to rooms and sealed in for 23:45 hours a day. Food is barely worthy of 7/11. There is no food after 6 P.M. Outside conduct is forbidden. Bars of soap and shampoo are grudgingly handed out. Staff greet questions about problems with “Don’t ask me”
In case you might try a Steve McQueen escape security personnel are manning the elevators. Finally, the PM has ruled that, in case you might have enjoyed your stay in the sumptuous Hazmat Hotel, you will be forced to pay for your room. In airport hotels that typically go for $100-$150 a night, you will be assessed $2,000 or more for your holiday in hell.
Asked about the detention of even negative-testing travellers, Trudeau channels his bellicose Papa and says, “Nay, nay!” This isn’t detention, its a health measure to protect the population from (looks at his card) the new variants of Covid-19. Or something something. Don’t you understand, you must pay for your white-haired privilege! A more dystopian treatment is hard to imagine.
There is now talk of class-action suits from those being detained without charges. Hiding beneath the Health® umbrella Trudeau thinks he can tough it out.
What the PM neglects to say is that his scapegoating of Snowbirds and other international travellers might have had an impact if it had been done a year ago at this time when the virus was not endemic, as it is today in Canada. But 2020 Trudeau thought shutting borders and blaming foreigners was racist and the China-run WHO said travel and masks was no big whoop.
Today that advice is as useless birth control In the Vatican. Except to a PM whose inaction imperilled tens of thousands of Canadians’ lives and whose health authorities still refuse to level with citizens about PCR tests, vaccine reliability and just who dies of Covid and who dies with Covid.
He’s playing the hits from Pierre Trudeau, talking tough (well, as tough as Justin can muster) and turning Canadians against each other. Another signature move from PET.
Those who traditionally spend the winter away from -45 C wind chills and snow banks are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Many are willing to wait out Trudeau till spring. Not that they have much choice since Air Canada and Westjet have cancelled almost all their flights back to the Frozen Holy Land. Many have pets who cannot be accommodated at Chalet Trudeau.
For now Trudeau will hope that his craven attempt to pit Canadians against each other over a winter vacation will produce results in a possible June election. After all, no Canadian politician has ever gone wrong in letting Karen covet Gord over a beach holiday. (Clarification: we are out of the country as this is written.)
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his new book Personal Account with Tony Comper is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx