In a recent conversation about the protesters in Ottawa, one person said “Well, turnabout is fair play. If environmentalists can protest then so can we.”
There are many things wrong with that sort of thinking. First and foremost, it is not “us versus them” in this country. We are all Canadians. Citizens across the country should be striving for a better Canada. We may disagree about how we get there but getting there is what we should want to do.
Secondly, two wrongs don’t make a right (no double entendre intended). Just because someone else committed an illegal act and protested logging, mining, pipelines, or what have you, doesn’t mean that you have to do the same. Perhaps more to the point, having said environmental protesters are wrong and have committed an illegal act should make you question whether you should do the same. The logic is twisted and I am still trying to wrap my head around it.
Thirdly, environmental protesters tend to have a very clear and finite objective. Save a forest or prevent drilling in a particular area. And their protests are usually dealt with fairly swiftly by legal means. The trucker protests across the country don’t seem to have clear objectives or at least that is how it appears. The only common theme seems to be an overthrowing the government – “Trudeau must resign!” – mentality.
Fourthly, environmental protesters are generally fighting to save something tangible, such as a forest, species, river, or mountain. Their efforts – rightly or wrongly – are intended to make the world a better place and leave the next generation with a legacy of cleaner water and clearer air. In contrast, the trucker protests seem to be about removing all health restrictions.
To unpack that a little further, they seem to want to do away with vaccines, masks, social distancing, and any of the other restrictions which were brought in by governments all over the world as public health measures intended to prevent unnecessary deaths. Consider that one in every 100 people who catches COVID dies. Is killing 1 in every 100 Canadians a desirable outcome?
As a final thought, one protester said “We just want to go back to 2018”. How is that supposed to happen? A time machine?
Todd Whitcombe is a chemistry professor at UNBC.
