Native protests, Dalton McGuinty, Gary McHale

Caledonia protest -- what's a gutless premier to do?

By Arthur Weinreb

Monday, September 25, 2006

A rally is planned for October 15 to protest the occupation of the Douglas Creek Estates by Six Nations natives in Caledonia. The land has been illegally occupied by natives who claim that the land is theirs since last February. Despite numerous court orders prohibiting the illegal occupation, the government of Dalton McGuinty refused to take any action or to allow their provincial police force to take any action against the natives. In a move that is so typical of a weakling and an appeaser, Dalton McGuinty took the taxpayers' money (the stuff that he is always whining about not receiving enough of from the federal government) and bought the land. Problem solved -- or so he thought.

It is easy to see why Dalton McGuinty is too afraid to enforce the law; he doesn't want to become a murderer. One of the few Dalton McGuintty successes came during his years as leader of the opposition when he did such a wonderful job of convincing Ontarians that Mike Harris killed Dudley George. Harris's role in the death of George arose from the fact that he happened to be premier at the time when Dudley George met his demise at the hands of an OPP officer. Implying that the premier offed Mr. George might have been a good political tactic had it been done by NDP leader Howard Hampton. After all, even though former NDP leader Bob Rae may end up being leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and prime minister of Canada and do to the country what he did to the province in the early 90s, Howard Hampton knows that, barring the discovery of the fountain of youth, he can't possibly live long enough to see Ontarians elect another NDP government. But when he was keeping up his attack on Murderin' Mike, Dalton lacked the foresight to understand that he might one day be premier of the province when a situation similar to the one that took place in Ipperwash occurred. Much like the felony/murder rule, we now have a premier/murder rule which has completely paralyzed the government of Ontario when it comes to Caledonia and a native dispute.

On top of that, McGuinty's government succeeded in bringing in fixed election dates. Although the fixed dates prohibit a premier from pulling the plug on a government for no other reason than the polls indicate that the time is good for re-election, the reality is that we are now in the midst of a campaign for the October 2007 election. All the more reason for the government to fear to act.

The protestors, led by Gary McHale, intend to protest on the disputed land. McHale told the Toronto Star that the protestors have a right to enter the disputed land because "There is nothing special about this land. It's not an army base. It's just standard government land and we can walk on government land". While this is not entirely true (the public has no right to walk into the private office of a government employee merely because it is a government office), nevertheless the land in Caledonia was never designated for use by the natives. The natives merely took it over and the government refused to do anything. Through fear and weakness, McGuinty has backed himself into a corner. If he takes steps to stop the rally, this will be proof positive of what the residents of Caledonia have been saying all along; there is one law for them and one for the rest of the free world. The government could specifically give the natives the right to use the government's land and prevent others from trespassing but that would be tantamount to agreeing with the natives that the property is in fact their land, something that has not yet been decided, at least not legally for what that's worth these days. And if McGuinty does nothing, he will end up being held responsible for any violence that occurs at the rally, especially if the OPP suddenly remember that they are police officers and not just flaks for the government of the day and take an active role in keeping or restoring the peace.

Governments are fond of saying that their primary role is the protection of their citizens. The reality is, of course is that the government's first function is to protect themselves. And in this regard, good luck Dalton; you're going to need it.

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Toronto Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: Columns 2006 '05 '04 '03 '02 '01 '00 1999 Media 2006 '05 '04 '03 '02 Toronto 2006 '05 '04