When did bullying become acceptible?
It’s a question I have been asking myself over the last few weeks.
And I’m not talking about regular schoolyard bullying either, although that is a subject that needs to be addressed, particularly when one walks past our local schools and hears the things some of our children say to one another.
No, I’m talking about U.S. President Donald Trump’s negotiating tactics with respect to Canada and Mexico and the North American Free Trade Agreement, with Trump’s hard-line approach to dealing with rogue states like North Korea and Iran. I’m talking about the bitter spat between Alberta and B.C., between Rachel Notley, John Horgan and the rest of the country.
On the one hand, everybody admires strong leaders.
You might not like the way he does business, but Trump knows how to apply pressure and if he’s a poker player, he’s a shark. He sets his sights on something and he goes for the throat. No deliberating, no second-guessing, it’s all or nothing for the Donald.
So it’s no surprise that Trump wants to renegotiate an agreement he feels is beneath the country he leads. It’s no surprise that he’s taking a hardline, demanding a better deal for American companies.
And actually, I applaud him.
However, he’s taking a line with people who have rather stiff necks themselves and Rachel Notley is too.
Her spat with B.C. over the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project brings to mind the impression of two children who have gotten into a fight over a trifling matter and one of them wanting to take their toys home.
I understand the pressure is on because Kinder Morgan cut all of its non-essential spending on the project back in April and will be withdrawing entirely at the end of this month if the provinces can’t agree, but when did it ever pay to be a bully?
Horgan’s got his back to the wall trying to hold his government together in B.C. and like Notley, he’s been saddled with an unpopular idea. It is a problem that neither of them wanted, neither of them make themselves.
Furthermore, a recent poll conducted by Statistics Canada suggested the majority of B.C.ers want the pipeline, so it isn’t ‘us’ versus ‘them’.
All B.C. wants is to ensure that the pipes hold, that the oil doesn’t get spilled.
Why is that so wrong?
Notley, Horgan, Trump, Trudeau, all of them need to grow up.
Being a bully doesn’t impress anyone.
All it does is make enemies.
