The ground beneath our feet
TORONTO – Canada has found itself in the eye of international attention in this past week, for reasons that call into question the almost blind faith with which Canadians accept the view of the agents entrusted with maintaining the integrity of our institutional foundations: electoral legitimacy and the speed and correctness of police investigations.
By now our readers, as the followers of other reputable news media, will be somewhat familiar with the terrible tragedy in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, where nine people died and 25 were injured when a shooter wreaked havoc at a school before ending his own life. This story will not end soon – its complexities are being unveiled one by one, even as you read this. The responses of the Local RCMP authorities and their back-up experts do not help much. If anything, what appears to be a cut and paste post from X/twitter and grafted onto a CBC link explaining the actions of the shooter as being somehow related to radical extremism born out of adherence to traditional family values simply aggravates the sensitivities associated with the murders.
The Officer to whom this is attributed was apparently from a Quebec office. Tumbler Ridge is 658 kms Northwest of Edmonton Alberta, about 200kms west of Grand Prairie but in the British Columbia foothills of the Rocky Mountains, halfway across the continent. With all due respect, unless one is steeped in the lumber, mining or tourism industry there is little else there but isolation. Reliance on the RCMP (or provincial counterparts in other provinces) and the local school board may be the only daily connection with the Canadian reality one may recognize.
The issue of “legitimacy” – the Courts, Electoral Commissions etc. – and processes that validate authorities and inspire the confidence that we live in a safe and equitable environment take on a more “urgent” aura. What happens when these fail?
The Supreme Court, for example, on Friday overturned a Lower Court validation of the election last Spring in Terrebonne (Montreal, Quebec), thus depriving Prime Minister Carney of one of his MPs – for the time being at least and presumably making the outcome of a potential confidence vote in the House of Commons less promising for his government.
All this being said, the “elephant in the room” remains, as always, our relationship with USA ($3.5 billion worth of goods and services cross our borders every day). The Prime Minister has “unretired” the Hon. Janice Charette, a former Clerk of the Privy Council, High Commissioner to Britain as the Chief Trade Negotiator to the USA. Among her many portfolios, Mme Charette served as Deputy Minister when I was Minister for Immigration. Her survival skills and breadth of expertise will serve Canada well. We need stability.
