Originally Posted by PepsiFree
I'm not sure I understand the whataboutism regarding future environmental protests, as if we don't already have a recent example of this happening (which, if we're trying to accuse each other of being hypocritical, saw the CPC call for forceful action just 12 days after blockades began, and saw many posters here who are suddenly concerned for the rights of protestors also advocate for the government "forcing" the RCMP to intervene, calling people terrorists, calling the response pathetic, hoping people die, and advocating for sending in the army).
This is, of course, the railway blockades in February 2020 in support of the Wet’suwet’en fight against CoastLink.
As a reminder, here is how that played out:
Not the similarities and differences. As far as timeline goes, overall it's similar. However, few blockades during the previous protest were active for more than a few days. The RCMP made many arrests while this time they seemed fairly reluctant to even issue fines.
The Conservatives pushed for forceful action while the Liberals pushed for ongoing dialogue. The Liberals eventually took to forceful action. Compare that with this current iteration, where the Conservatives have pushed for dialogue, and the Liberals have not, but have also avoided forceful action thus far. You can decide for yourself whether dialogue was necessary or not in either case, but it's worth noting that the dialogue in one concerned the protection of indigenous land rights, and the dialogue in the other concerned the removal of health restrictions and of Trudeau as PM (among other things).
Looking at a provincial level, I don't think it needs to be pointed out that the entire reason Kenney and the UCP introduced Bill 1 was due to the Wet'suwet'wen protests, a Bill he was reluctant to enforce on the Coutts protest, despite it being far more damaging and long lasting than anything that occured in Alberta during the Wet'suwet'wen protests.
All in all, if we're looking for hypocrisy or a gotchya, it's clear to see that the Liberals favoured a softer response in statements previously but have acted in a softer manner this time, while the actions and many statements of the Conservatives have been a complete reversal. There's still room for the Liberals to enforce much harsher measures, though.
Looking for hypocrisy and bias in response to these issues is a game pretty much everyone is destinted to lose. Why play? Looking for a gotchya? There's no shortage of them, including from the people most eager to play the game, so I would just avoid that nonsense entirely. I think we can do without.
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