Resign!

Advice to MPs derelict in their duty

I sent today the following letter. Others who have seen it have recommended that I share it more broadly, which I am happy to do. — DBF

Dear Mr Cannings:

Since I was raised in the Okanagan Valley, from pioneering families, I will take the time to respond to this, though it is unaddressed and appears to be boilerplate.

First, how dare you describe our rights as ‘privileges’ to be withdrawn at the government’s whim! 

Second, on what grounds do you presume to judge the impact of section one before the high courts have spoken? You will be well aware of the better-informed view of Mr Peckford (and many others) that section one does not touch these matters and was not designed to do so. 

Third, anyone who was in Ottawa or watched closely what transpired (I was and I did) knows that your attempted distinction between the Emergencies Act and the War Measures Act is a distinction without a difference. As I have said elsewhere, and as much of the country is aware, Senator Plett did a fine job of showing the speciousness of what you are claiming here, yet you persist in it. Your claim that all rights were preserved is a mockery of the Charter.

Fourth, you describe as ‘hatred’ what was not hatred in any sense of the term. It was reasoned and reasonable dissent, to which you and your party and the government you are propping up would neither listen nor deign to dialogue about.  You refused, and apparently continue to refuse, to engage the many Canadians who rightly regarded the Freedom Convoy protest as a necessary attempt to defend rights and freedoms. This refusal renders you unfit to represent the people, as it renders the prime minister unfit.

Fifth, you speak of high death rates, which is manifestly false. It always was false and is now frankly absurd. How can you call 0.8/100K, average age 80+, a high death rate? And even those deaths are deaths ‘related to covid’ but not necessarily caused by covid. Perhaps you’ve had your staff do enough research to discover that people do tend to die in their eighties, if they are fortunate enough to live so long? 

Sixth, you also speak of measures and mandates essential to saving lives.  There is no evidence whatsoever that the restrictive mandates saved lives. There is plenty of evidence that they cost lives. Which measures in particular did you have in mind?  Perhaps you should go back and begin again at the beginning.  Here, for example, where government policies were apparently killing people by design. Or here, which illustrates the level of competence on which evidence has been judged by governments across the country even to the present time. 

Seventh, we did not elect doctors or bureaucrats to run our country for the past two years and, by your reckoning, to run it for as long as the senior members among them deem fit. We elected our MPs to run the country. You are in dereliction of duty. And your vote to send in baton-wielding police to disperse peaceful protesters, who were disturbing nothing more than your peace of mind, was a vote to kill democracy. 

You and your colleagues ought, as I said, to resign. I am appending my original letter to my own MP, the letter copied to you to which you are here replying, for your own reference and for the reference of others. Please regard this rejoinder as public.

Sincerely,

Douglas Bryce Farrow

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My original letter follows below. Here, first, is the boilerplate in question:

From: "Cannings, Richard - M.P."
Date: Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 11:59 AM
To: Douglas Farrow
Subject: Mandates and Convoy

Thank you for your e-mail.  

Let me begin by saying that I understand your frustration about the mandates that were put in place during the past 2 years.  All Canadians have had to give up many of the privileges we took for granted in order to try to stem the spread of COVID.  

I believe that the various mandates and restrictions enacted by provincial and federal health officers have been essential to saving thousands of lives across Canada, and I maintain my belief that the decisions around imposing and lifting those restrictions should lie with public health officers, not politicians.  We have seen the results of political decisions to lift mandates prematurely in provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where death rates are about twice that in British Columbia.

I am also aware that the omicron variant has changed the calculus around vaccination and travel mandates and their effectiveness.  That said, while hospitalization and death rates are still high (though decreasing at the moment) I would again defer to public health experts as to when these mandates should be altered or lifted.

It has become apparent that there are plans in place to begin the easing of mandates in the coming weeks. While not every mandate will be eliminated at once, these are positive moves towards our reintegration back into our social lives and activities.

My concerns around the convoy that occupied Ottawa for the first three weeks of February are on various fronts.  First of all, their supporters felt that the mandates had taken away freedoms guaranteed in the Charter of Rights.  This is simply not true—the first paragraph of the Charter says explicitly that any of these freedoms are limited by reasonable restrictions.  We have the right to free speech, but not to use that speech to spread hatred.  We have the right of assembly, but not to take a city hostage for three weeks.

Secondly, the leadership of the convoy stated that their main goal was to remove the government of Canada, a government that was democratically elected only a few months ago in an election where vaccine mandates were one of the main issues.  

Once the convoy became entrenched in Ottawa it was apparent that enforcement would need special powers to remove it.  On February 14th, the Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act, which gave local police forces the ability to quickly bring in officers from across the country to help in the operation.  It gave them to ability to compel tow truck operators to provide the equipment necessary to move the trucks.  And it allowed authorities to temporarily freeze the bank accounts of convoy organizers and participants to investigate concerns about where significant funding for the convoy was originating.  I have to add here that allegations that donors to the convoy were having their bank accounts frozen have proven to be completely false. 

I also have to state clearly that the Emergencies Act is not the War Measures Act, or anything close to it.  There is no declaration of martial law.  All rights under the Charter are preserved.  There is no use of the armed forces.  It has powerful oversight mechanisms built into it, including a special parliamentary committee that is underway now.

The NDP reluctantly supported the government in invoking the Emergencies Act because we felt the impasse in Ottawa had to come to an end, as did the various border blockades that were having serious impacts on our trade with the United States.   But we said from the start that we would be watching closely and immediately pull that support if it was clear the Act was no longer needed.  After the convoy was removed from Ottawa and border blockades were cleared, it was apparent that there was little further need for those powers.  All parties signalled that to the government and the Act was revoked on February 23rd after 10 days of use.

Thank you again for voicing your concerns about mandates and the Emergency Act and please accept my apology for my delay in responding.  My offices have been flooded with more than 13,000 emails and phone calls on all sides of the issue.

It is my hope that no matter what side of the issue you stand on, that we come together as a country to work towards a better future.

Thank you again for taking the time to voice your concerns.

Sincerely,

Richard Cannings, MP, South Okanagan-West Kootenay

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This is the letter I had sent to my MP and copied to the others, on 14 February:

Dear Mr Scarpaleggia,

As a constituent, I write to urge you to resist firmly any effort to impose the Emergencies Act or to take any other measures to prevent public protests such as that of the Freedom Convoy.  We have been to Ottawa twice to observe for ourselves what is happening. There have been thousands of ordinary Canadians, as you know, behaving themselves very well.  The people are speaking and the government must listen and respond with change, not with suppression and oppression.  Any move to withdraw our rights as citizens to effect peaceful protests, especially on Parliament Hill, is a death blow to democracy.  Please stand up and say so. And do everything you can to bring an immediate end to coercive mandates.

I am copying your colleagues in the House.  Not every Canadian, but Canadians everywhere—like people around the world—are fed up with governments suppressing their rights and freedoms and refusing to allow citizens to live freely and make their own choices. Parliamentarians in Canada, including the Prime Minister, who really don’t believe in a free and democratic society should resign immediately.   

Sincerely,

Douglas Farrow