The other day I wrote a post where I asked, or begged our progressive leaders to elevate their game. To go big or go home.
And make the struggle to defeat the Harper Cons a larger struggle to save Canada and its values.
And I have to say that last night in Toronto, Justin Trudeau did deliver.
Justin Trudeau accuses Stephen Harper and the Conservatives of “stoking anxiety and fomenting fear” in a diverse Canada and calls their politics “corrosive.”
“Mr. Harper and I disagree fundamentally about many things. None perhaps more so than this: leading this country should mean you bring Canadians together. You do not divide them against one another,” Trudeau told the audience at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.
Because it was an excellent speech and some things needed to be said.
“Fear is a dangerous thing. Once it is sanctioned by the state there is no telling where it might lead. It is always a short path to walk from being suspicious of our fellow citizens to taking actions to restrict their liberty.’’
And what impressed me the most was that it was also a brave speech. Because standing up for a Muslim woman’s right to wear a niqab, in a country bubbling with the bigotry Stephen Harper has stirred up, could cost him votes.
But this also did need to be said:
Trudeau said that in a free country like Canada, individuals have the right to dislike the niqab, hold it up as a symbol of oppression, or even try to convince fellow citizens not to wear it.
But he hastened to add that those who would use the state’s power to restrict women’s religious freedom and freedom of expression “indulge the very same repressive impulse that they profess to condemn.
Stephen Harper has been playing a dirty game…
So he deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible way.
And we will never defeat him unless we make our vision of Canada and its values better than his. So good for Trudeau.
Now I know what some of my orange and green friends, are going to say:
“You see I told you, I TOLD you. Simon is for Justin !!#@#!!!”
So I’ll probably have even more bruises by tonight than I have now, after my last disastrous hockey game, and nine years of living in Harperland.
But this is what I’ll probably tell them. After reminding them that I’m the one with the black belt. And the explosive temper.
Yes I’m for Justin, just as I am for Tom Mulcair and his message on the politics of fear…
And just as I am for Elizabeth May who could also be my Prime Minister…
Because all of them are better, more decent, and more Canadian leaders than the hog we have now . . .
And all I would ask of them is that they make the struggle to defeat him as big as the country itself.
Make the vision of a better Harper-free country something to get excited about. Make it more like a movement to save our Canada, and its values. So more Canadians will be inspired to vote in the next election, since so much will depend on that.
And to my red, orange, and green friends I would just say this:
Do what you must to defeat that monstrous Con hog and his depraved regime.
And let’s all take our Canada back . . .
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