Nelson: Billboard fracas a sad day for Canadian debate | Calgary Herald
Nelson: Billboard fracas a sad day for Canadian debate
A worker removes a billboard featuring the portrait of People's Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier and its message "Say NO to Mass Immigration" in Toronto on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019.	Moe Doiron / REUTERS
I awoke Monday still smiling following Ben Stokes’s remarkable performance at Headingley’s cricket ground the previous day, only to be slapped back to reality.
Yes, without my knowledge, I’d been insulted. I’m used to that; but this was worse. Seemingly, I’d also been slapped in the face. Ouch: what a start to the week.
This unwarranted abuse came courtesy, of all things, a daft billboard in Kensington bearing the message, “Say No To Mass Immigration,” alongside an image of Maxime Bernier, head honcho of some fringe outfit, the People’s Party of Canada.
But oddly I didn’t actually feel insulted. It did seem a simplistic message for a nuanced Canadian issue, one endlessly debated in this country, which is a land peopled overwhelmingly with immigrants and their descendants.
And if boiling complex issues down to simple statements is cause for national condemnation, then how the heck did Justin Trudeau ever become prime minister?
Anyhow, I learned, courtesy of a nice lady called Saima Jamal, this billboard was indeed a slap to every immigrant — me, therefore, included — and an insult to all Canadians.
“Seeing the sign, it’s hurtful, it’s shocking and it’s very, very un-Canadian,” said Jamal, who co-founded Calgary’s Immigrant Support Society.
Whoa. Hold on a second. Racist? Did it read “No More Black Immigrants”? Or “No More Jewish Newcomers”? Or even “Say No To Norwegians”? Nope, it urged folk to reject mass immigration. That’s not racist. It’s a point of view, not a matter of fact. It’s a viewpoint I disagree with but since when does that give me, or anyone else, the right to demand such a message be torn down?
But these days you dare not step on the saintly toes of the endlessly aggrieved or socially conscious. They’ve emotional, societal and sometimes financial skin in this game. Outrage is their currency of choice.
Sadly, it worked and these billboards are now being removed across Canada. Individuals and companies now fear getting crushed beneath the wheels of rampant societal victimhood if they don’t comply. You could be next, being the veiled threat.
Now, as an immigrant, I find that a slap in the face. As a Canadian, I find that insulting.
Are we not to debate immigration? Something vital to this country’s future and responsible for much of the life we all enjoy? Yes, this country was built upon the literal and figurative sweat of immigrants, as Ms. Jamal poetically touches upon. So should we not have a call on where we go from here?
Or are only certain voices allowed, those fitting an approved viewpoint? Or are we scared to actually debate these issues, instead resorting to the tactics of name-calling and Twitter piling-on? People once hurled rotten fruit at politicians on the stump: today the moral online soapbox with its outrage is the tool of choice. Frankly, the first showed more commitment and guts. At least people looked each other in the eye.
So here’s my take on the billboard. (Mine alone, as I don’t presume to speak for anyone else, immigrant or not.) What the heck does mass immigration mean anyhow? Are we talking about people wandering across our southern border undocumented (thanks to Trudeau) or are we discussing the actual numbers of annual immigrants, chosen by Canada? Oh, and are we including refugees?
In any case, Bernier is still proposing annual immigration of 250,000, rather than the Liberals’ 310,000, which rises to 350,000 in three years.
Or is it just a far-right dog whistle for something?
These are questions simplistic billboards can actually encourage. This is how we progress. Debate, argue and even fight. It isn’t perfect but it beats the heck out of being too intellectually weak and emotionally frozen to get in the ring of public discourse and have a “get-to-it” scrap. It’s so much easier to demand other views be banned.
Resist this or be cowed by such bullying. Put that billboard back up and let’s argue if it sends the wrong message. Now that’s life. That’s Canada.
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Nelson: Billboard fracas a sad day for Canadian debate | Calgary Herald
Nelson: Billboard fracas a sad day for Canadian debate
A worker removes a billboard featuring the portrait of People's Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier and its message "Say NO to Mass Immigration" in Toronto on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019.	Moe Doiron / REUTERS
I awoke Monday still smiling following Ben Stokes’s remarkable performance at Headingley’s cricket ground the previous day, only to be slapped back to reality.
Yes, without my knowledge, I’d been insulted. I’m used to that; but this was worse. Seemingly, I’d also been slapped in the face. Ouch: what a start to the week.
This unwarranted abuse came courtesy, of all things, a daft billboard in Kensington bearing the message, “Say No To Mass Immigration,” alongside an image of Maxime Bernier, head honcho of some fringe outfit, the People’s Party of Canada.
But oddly I didn’t actually feel insulted. It did seem a simplistic message for a nuanced Canadian issue, one endlessly debated in this country, which is a land peopled overwhelmingly with immigrants and their descendants.
And if boiling complex issues down to simple statements is cause for national condemnation, then how the heck did Justin Trudeau ever become prime minister?
Anyhow, I learned, courtesy of a nice lady called Saima Jamal, this billboard was indeed a slap to every immigrant — me, therefore, included — and an insult to all Canadians.
“Seeing the sign, it’s hurtful, it’s shocking and it’s very, very un-Canadian,” said Jamal, who co-founded Calgary’s Immigrant Support Society.
Whoa. Hold on a second. Racist? Did it read “No More Black Immigrants”? Or “No More Jewish Newcomers”? Or even “Say No To Norwegians”? Nope, it urged folk to reject mass immigration. That’s not racist. It’s a point of view, not a matter of fact. It’s a viewpoint I disagree with but since when does that give me, or anyone else, the right to demand such a message be torn down?
But these days you dare not step on the saintly toes of the endlessly aggrieved or socially conscious. They’ve emotional, societal and sometimes financial skin in this game. Outrage is their currency of choice.
Sadly, it worked and these billbo
ards are now being removed across Canada. Individuals and companies now fear getting crushed beneath the wheels of rampant societal victimhood if they don’t comply. You could be next, being the veiled threat.
Now, as an immigrant, I find that a slap in the face. As a Canadian, I find that insulting.
Are we not to debate immigration? Something vital to this country’s future and responsible for much of the life we all enjoy? Yes, this country was built upon the literal and figurative sweat of immigrants, as Ms. Jamal poetically touches upon. So should we not have a call on where we go from here?
Or are only certain voices allowed, those fitting an approved viewpoint? Or are we scared to actually debate these issues, instead resorting to the tactics of name-calling and Twitter piling-on? People once hurled rotten fruit at politicians on the stump: today the moral online soapbox with its outrage is the tool of choice. Frankly, the first showed more commitment and guts. At least people looked each other in the eye.
So here’s my take on the billboard. (Mine alone, as I don’t presume to speak for anyone else, immigrant or not.) What the heck does mass immigration mean anyhow? Are we talking about people wandering across our southern border undocumented (thanks to Trudeau) or are we discussing the actual numbers of annual immigrants, chosen by Canada? Oh, and are we including refugees?
In any case, Bernier is still proposing annual immigration of 250,000, rather than the Liberals’ 310,000, which rises to 350,000 in three years.
Or is it just a far-right dog whistle for something?
These are questions simplistic billboards can actually encourage. This is how we progress. Debate, argue and even fight. It isn’t perfect but it beats the heck out of being too intellectually weak and emotionally frozen to get in the ring of public discourse and have a “get-to-it” scrap. It’s so much easier to demand other views be banned.
Resist this or be cowed by such bullying. Put that billboard back up and let’s argue if it sends the wrong message. Now that’s life. That’s Canada.
Brookman: History of major projects is a red flag for Green... Opinion: If Alberta's electricity market is not broken, don't fix it