During times of crisis, the masses look for leadership to make the tough calls and rally the people to overcome hardship, to inspire them to look forward and press on.
This hasn’t exactly been the case with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. If anything, his voice has sparked new divisions between Canadians on how we as a country should operate to end this pandemic.
He needs to refocus his efforts on getting all sides to come together to beat this virus.
The problem truly lies in how Trudeau handles opposition to his policies. On more than one occasion, he has labeled those against COVID-19 mandates, including vaccination mandates, as extremists.
“They are extremists who don’t believe in science, they’re often misogynists, also often racists,” said Trudeau in an interview on ‘La semaine des 4 Julie’ on Sep. 16, 2021. “It’s a small group that muscles in, and we have to make a choice in terms of leaders, in terms of the country. Do we tolerate these people?”
Trudeau should be completely focused on bringing the country back together. If people are skeptical of vaccines, he needs to convince them, not write them off as lost causes and extremists. It’s this lack of fairness that has Canadians upset.
Canadians include people from all walks of life. Pitting them against each other will not solve any problems, and will likely just make things worse in the long run. What Trudeau needs to do is talk. Talk to the people, hear his critics, and most importantly, acknowledge them.
Unfortunately, Trudeau does not show any sign of changing his stance to accomplish this yet. He has instead doubled down in his rhetoric.
“This is a story of a country that got through this pandemic by being united,” Trudeau said. “A few people shouting and waving swastikas does not define who Canadians are.”
What Trudeau needs to realize is that making statements like empowers the “Freedom Convoy” to present themselves as victims of a hostile government, and practically spoon feeds them support and erodes his credibility at the same time.
If he wants to beat this protest, he needs to engage with them, as they are his people too. Positioning all of them as the enemy of the people will only push them further to take more extreme action to get attention, which is the opposite of what Canadians want.
According to the Angus Reid Institute, nearly three quarters of Canadians want the protestors to go home. But that still leaves at least nine million people as either undecided or in support of the protests. If Trudeau wants to bring a permanent end to the unrest, he will need to work with these protestors and find some way to calm them and have them leave peacefully, after all, in that same survey, nearly two-thirds of Canadians hold him accountable for his comments making things worse.
Invoking the Emergencies Act translates to protestors that they are considered an enemy of the nation, guaranteeing that criticism will mount, rather than diminish. It also brings up more questions as to what civil liberties will be suspended now that it is in place.
Without any judicial oversight, the government and law enforcement can freeze bank accounts of anyone they feel was involved in these protests, and demand their personal financial details from institutions.
Essentially, an end to privacy.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has already announced it will fight the act in court.
““The emergency orders that the government has tabled are not targeted,” said the CCLA. “They are not limited to specific protests, or specific geographic locations. They are expansive emergency orders that have already come into effect and apply equally across the entire country. And they place unprecedented restrictions on every single Canadians’ constitutional rights.”
If more than half of Canadians view your conduct as problematic and civil rights groups are challenging your decisions, you’ve failed as a leader.
The ball is in Trudeau’s court now, and demonstrating some sympathy and understanding will go a long way to healing the divide plaguing Canada, and it would be a refreshing change of pace that Canada needs now more than ever.
After all, cornering a mad animal will only increase the chances it will get more aggressive to fight back.