The crazies are behind door ‘C’ and we turn them loose at our peril. And it is certainly not the role of Canada’s senior civil servant to open that door. To even suggest that somebody might be shot in this country, in this year of elections, is tantamount to an invitation.
Maybe he had to say something that foolish to get the attention and felt that it was needed in the circumstances. I doubt it.
One of the things that has been bothering Canadians is the growing use of firearms by people totally unequipped to handle them responsibly. The politicians make the appropriate clucks over the problem but never do squat to really address the problems. Nobody who takes hunting seriously takes a large magazine, automatic pistol or assault rifle hunting.
Canadians are damn lucky that their fellow citizens are generally law-abiding and responsible but it takes only one crazy loose with a gun and deaths and crushing injuries can follow.
And never, ever suggest a target. The only place we want people to shoot guns is in a properly laid out and safe firing range.
That being said, I do appreciate how Canada’s Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Wernick, was open and blunt in his appearance before the Commons Justice Committee. He is concerned about Canadians losing “faith in the institutions of governance in this country.” And they are.
It should also be said that Michael Wernick’s appearance before the Commons committee went a long way towards clearing some of the confusion caused by events of recent weeks. I feel no shame that I was puzzled by the situation. Lots of very knowledgeable people were having problems digesting this SNC-Lavalin mess and when you realize it took ten years just to reach this state, you wondered if we would ever understand. Hearing Jody Wilson-Raybould’s side of this current confusion might also help.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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