Cowardice is the only word to describe Justin Trudeau’s failure to truly confront the crisis of antisemitism and violence in our streets.
There have been bomb threats against synagogues, bullets fired at Jewish schools, and brazen Nazi salutes. If none of those can drive this Liberal government to rise to the occasion and behave like leaders, it is terrifying to think what will.
Social media posts dribbling the same lines about how antisemitic terror is “unacceptable,” “not who we are,” and “has no place in Canada” are the best we can expect at this point.
When Trudeau was filmed attending the Taylor Swift concert in Toronto on Friday, he obviously did not plan for it to coincide with the anti-NATO and anti-Israel riots that same night.
That is still beside the point. He and his government are petrified by the necessity of growing a backbone and properly calling out these antisemitic radicals as they bend and break the law to terrorize the Jewish community.
It was only a few short years ago that the prime minister chose a side during the pandemic and came out swinging against the unvaccinated at rallies and in Parliament. Trudeau staked out the battle lines between those who took the jab and those who did not, and fought an entire election on it.
“Do we tolerate these people?” were his words when it came to the unvaccinated.
Trudeau went so far as to invoke the Emergencies Act when the Freedom Convoy came to occupy Ottawa. The convoy was rowdy and disruptive, but they did not set fire to synagogues or fired bullets at Jewish schools. The Friday riot in Montreal was just one in a series of coordinated actions designed to rile up fear and intimidation.
No matter how you feel about the Freedom Convoy, they never went as far as the anti-Israel mobs have, as they throw up the Nazi salute and parade through Jewish neighbourhoods.
Fortunately, not every part of the government has been idle during this time.
Suspects from other incidents, such as the man who threatened to kill a counter-demonstrator at an anti-Israel protest in Toronto last year, were taken into custody. A few months ago, the police detained a suspect in Quebec who was allegedly planning to travel to New York City and murder scores of Jewish people on the anniversary of 9/11.
With this murderous intent plain for all to see, why are the Liberals so afraid of publicly taking an unambiguous stand against the anti-Israel mob? Nobody has to love Israel to understand why it is wrong to only do the bare minimum to condemn antisemitism at these demonstrations and those who go further with violence.
Trudeau’s failure to even try and rally Canadians against it is equal parts bewildering, infuriating, and suspect. Perhaps Trudeau’s own cabinet can provide a clue for their cravenness.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is as large a liability as can be found in the entire government.
Joly is an utterly inept minister who has proven herself an equally careless politician. Former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair wrote last month that Joly had explicitly alluded to the “demographics” of her Montreal riding when it came to navigating Middle Eastern foreign policy.
The phrase “demographics is destiny” is beloved among the alt-right, especially in online platforms like Reddit and 4Chan. In real life, in the House of Commons, however, it would seem that the Liberals believe in that phrase more fervently than anyone else.
If cabinet ministers like Joly show us anything, it’s that the Liberals value getting re-elected over taking a risk to set a brave example.
There is management, and then there is leadership. Trudeau has opted for the former.
By not rocking the boat and overtly enraging the anti-Israel forces, Trudeau is content to be a manager. Can he truly be that checked out?
A true leader would have stood with his back straight and made it clear at rallies and in Parliament that his government is unambiguously hostile to the radicals who smashed up Montreal over the weekend. That may not move CSIS or the RCMP any faster, but it would show Canadians that their prime minister is a moral leader, not a caretaker.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre made Trudeau look like a reprobate when he released a long statement condemning the prime minister’s leadership following the riot. Poilievre excoriated the prime minister for opening Canada’s borders to terrorists, dividing Canadians by race, and turning the country into a “playground” for foreign interference.
All of it rang true. Poilievre’s words channelled the rage and frustration that Canadians feel after seeing their country transformed into what it is today.
One hundred and fifty-seven years on from Confederation, Canada is at risk of permanently becoming a husk of a nation where religious and ethnic minorities are terrorized and all the government can do is try and manage the situation, because, in their eyes, those threatened are the wrong kind of minority in 2024.
There must be values that go beyond diversity and leadership that exists beyond social media. Say what you will about Pierre Trudeau, but at least he had guts and was not afraid to confront the terrorists of the Front de libération du Québec when they kidnapped and murdered politicians in the 1970s.
So the question should be, to quote the younger Trudeau, do we tolerate these people?
It should not take a murder or a kidnapping for this government to bring its full moral and political weight down on the radicals, but their weak-kneed decisions thus far have inspired no confidence that they would even then.
This country is broken, no matter what the Liberals and their remaining loyalists spew to try and justify this failed government’s continued life.
Canada can still be repaired, not remade, and be the country most of us still love and remember. That hopeful country where people could co-exist and communities thrive without fear is still within Canada’s grasp, but never under the leadership of a coward.
National Post