Image Credit: The Canadian Press

By James Peters

Two & Out

PETERS: All Canadians can talk about our love of freedom without submitting to dog whistle politics

Feb 11, 2022 | 10:34 AM

ANY COUNTRY’S FLAG should be a symbol of national unity and pride. Unfortunately, current events are chipping away at that symbolism here in Canada.

The Canadian flag has most recently been festooned upon vehicles participating in protests against vaccine mandates or pandemic restrictions or various other state impositions.

If participants co-opt the flag, that would seem to suggest their views represent the majority of Canadians.

But the flag belongs to everyone — even those who still think mandates and restrictions are probably necessary right now.

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The same goes for the word ‘freedom’, which has been claimed by those same protesters — not unlike other dog-whistle terms used by fringe groups to separate the true believers from the enemy.

Convoy supporters want you to believe they are the only ones interested in freedom and everyone else is capitulating weakly to communist overlords.

The truth is, we all love freedom, regardless of political persuasion.

We just have different levels of tolerance for state incursion for the purpose of enabling us to live in a safe, functional society.

I would love to drive as fast as I like, but because I also want our community to be a safe place to live, I stick to the posted speed limits imposed by government.

That doesn’t mean I somehow dislike freedom. I simply recognize there are reasonable limits.

We regularly elect representatives to set those limits, as we did last October. In abiding by those limits, we don’t decline greater freedom; we adhere to the democratic system that is our greatest source of freedom.

Freedom, as a word and as an aspiration, doesn’t belong to a single protest movement or a particular political party.

Canadians shouldn’t let them weaponize it to shame and attack their ideological opponents.

We can be proud and free even when we don’t park our trucks on the front lawn of Parliament Hill.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.