Today, Québeckers commuting by train woke up to trains being blocked by the natural gas pipeline protesters (https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/pipeline-protesters-plan-to-be-there-until-further-notice-as-exo-cancels-trains-on-candiac-line-1.4804798).
Yesterday for the third day, Ontarians travelling by train between Toronto , Ottawa, and Montreal, have been blocked in 18 VIA rail stations (https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/indigenous-rail-blockades-cause-chaos-for-ontario-travellers-commuters).
In BC, highways have been blocked by activists protesting the same cause (https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/84be145a-4c61-11ea-85c7-0242ac110002/?jwsource=cl).
What is ironic in the case of the train in Québec is that the citizens (and government) of La Belle Province are known to be anti-pipeline. Bambi says this because of the Lac Mégantic tragedy a few years ago, that has taught us how trains can be more dangerous than pipelines to transport dangerous yet much needed substances.
So why do all those “activists” go to that extreme, even miles away from the west side of our country?
In the National Post article above, travellers described their frustration (even if they understand the cause) because they missed a funeral or a wedding. One young woman missed the chance of seeing her boyfriend after a long month. Luckily, VIA rail will be reimbursing everyone, it seems.
Bambi can only feel for these travellers. She used to take that VIA train between Toronto and Montreal to a great extent, especially the fast route (4 hours). She once left work on a Friday evening in a rush and took the train, for a 24-hour trip, to say good-bye to her aunt in her last moments of her life. Had such interruption occurred then, Bambi would have been annoyed; regardless of the “activists” and their cause, even if she had sympathy for it.
Another question that begs itself: Why do our authorities allow all this to unfold, even when a decision was made in December to allow the company in question to proceed AND when the company consulted with 20 first nations who ALL support this project?
Why do we hear the name of one entity, the Hereditary Chiefs, and not other leading groups or Mr. or Ms. Average Person from their communities?
Anyhow, these questions are not the topic of this post but they cannot help not to run into Bambi’s mind whilst reading the news as she tries to understand all this.
To come back to the question raised by this post: “Is it OK to impose our convictions on others?”, Bambi is asking this question regardless of the cause of the day.
For instance, a few days ago, animal activists stormed an organic store in Montreal, (https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/202002/09/01-5260228-des-militants-antispecistes-font-irruption-dans-une-epicerie-montrealaise.php) and a few weeks ago, a pig farm in Saint-Hyacinthe (https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/animal-activists-occupy-a-pig-farm-in-saint-hyacinthe-and-are-arrested-1.4719827), and at one point, they invaded a restaurant serving beef and bothered the clients who went to relax and enjoy a good meal (https://www.mtlblog.com/news/canada/qc/montreal/montreal-restaurant-joe-beef-stormed-by-animal-rights-activists-video).
Why do we tolerate this form of so-called environmental activism that resemble more social “terrorism”? In the name of what? Of “climate change” that is resembling more and more a cult and less and less science?
Bambi, as a deer, is concerned by the driving of humans in her habitat (where we built highways). Imagine, if she, and her fellow deer of Canada, decide to block our highways and train rails to denounce this noble cause to her species. Will this be acceptable and tolerated by “human” Canadians?
