Michael Higgins: Montreal burns, Trudeau dances

Justin Trudeau dad-dancing at a Taylor Swift concert is unsettling; that it happened as Montreal was set alight by rioters is unfortunate.

It is, however, indicative of Liberal government policy on pro-Palestinian/anti-Jewish protests that have been taking place for over a year – act as if nothing is happening.

In the last few days, protesters in Montreal have: burnt an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; raised the Nazi salute; called for the “final solution”; and then, on Friday night, smashed windows, overturned cars, threw smoke bombs, and launched metal barriers at police.

Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the masked thugs, and three people were arrested for assaulting officers.

Watching the videos of the lawlessness, there is a sense of celebration among the protesters as window after window is smashed at the Palais des Congrès, where a NATO summit was taking place.

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was quick to denounce the violence.

”Violent mobs riot and rampage through beautiful Montreal, typifying the chaos that is engulfing our once-peaceful country after 9 years of Trudeau’s radical, divisive agenda,” Poilievre wrote on X on Friday night. “Trudeau fiddles while Montreal burns.”

However, the prime minister was not playing Nero, he was instead at a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto where he was videoed doing that embarrassing dance that dads do when they get beyond a certain age.

The prime minister is allowed to attend events with his family and obviously cannot control when rioters choose to rampage through Montreal. But these pro-Palestinian/Hamas-supporting demonstrations have been happening since the savagery of October 7 and the Liberal government and Trudeau have been missing in action.

It took Trudeau until noon on Saturday to finally address the Montreal riot.

“What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling,” he said on X. “Acts of antisemitism, intimidation, and violence must be condemned wherever we see them. The RCMP are in communication with local police. There must be consequences, and rioters held accountable.”

Mélanie Joly, the foreign affairs minister who also represents the Montreal-area riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, issued a similar statement.

“Those who spread hate and antisemitism, use violence, loot and destroy property must be condemned and held accountable,” she said on X.

So, both Joly and Trudeau believe these riots “must be condemned” without actually doing any condemning. As if it was the responsibility of someone else to do that.

And they both believe people need to be “held accountable.”

Accountability? Isn’t that a job of government? The one that Trudeau leads and the one where Joly sits at the cabinet table?

Neither statement accepts any responsibility, nor do they even hint at the possibility that the Liberals might do something.

What happened in Montreal over the last few days shouldn’t surprise anyone. It is the consequence of a government that has singularly failed to come to grips with the vile antisemites and the terrorist sympathizers who have been flooding the streets of Canada with hate for more than a year.

So why shouldn’t a protester give the Nazi salute to Jewish students outside Concordia?

Chanting, “Final solution is coming your way. The final solution,” on a Montreal street? No problem.

Burning an effigy of Netanyahu while screaming the genocidal slogan, “From the river to the sea”? Perfectly acceptable.

All this culminating in an orgy of violence on Friday night.

The weak messaging from the Liberal government has encouraged these anti-Jewish protests.

Sometimes the government has been silent and refused to condemn the protests. Sometimes they have played the false equivalency card, condemning both antisemitism and Islamophobia. And sometimes, like in Trudeau’s statement Saturday, it’s portrayed as someone else’s problem – the RCMP, perhaps.

Is it the government’s problem? Yes, absolutely.

Considering that the Liberal government quickly evoked the Emergencies Act to deal with the Truckers Convoy shows that they have tools to address disorder.

But the Liberals don’t have to be that draconian. A first step would be for the prime minister to take a stronger and more public line with these appalling thugs.

Issuing a statement on X isn’t enough. The CBC’s main website on Saturday afternoon still featured a prominent story about Trudeau attending the Taylor Swift concert. The Montreal riot? Nowhere to be seen on the main CBC page.

If the prime minister was more vocal and more public with his condemnation then even the supposed nation’s broadcaster would have to take notice.

By taking a low-key, hands-off approach, the Liberals have allowed these protests to spawn into anti-Jewish hate fests and rioting.

What we need is a strong prime minister willing to stand up for Canadian values, and to state those ideals publicly, loudly and often.

Trudeau may claim he is being unfairly trashed for dancing at a Taylor Swift concert while Montreal burned. But as a symbol, the juxtaposition couldn’t be more appropriate.