Shocked to see it but not surprised that it happened.
That is Quesnel Mayor and former MLA Bob Simpson’s reaction to the violent protest that happened in the United States.
He says that is the danger of having political parties, especially when they’re not held accountable…
“Trump would not have gotten away with what he did over the past four years, he would not have gotten away with his contention that the election was stolen from him, and his continued lies about that he won in a landslide, if the Republicans did not support that.”
And he says it is something that can happen here in Canada…
“I think it can happen anywhere where people disengage from their democracy, where people chose to not find the facts for themselves, and where people basically listen to folks like Trump who feed their worst angels, it can happen.”
On top of that, Simpson says Canada’s Parliamentary system doesn’t have the checks and balances that the American system is supposed to have.
While the U.S. has the House of Representatives and an elected Senate, he says Canada, be it the Prime Minister or the Premier, basically has a dictatorship.
He says it is important that people pay attention and make sure that they elect people who are willing to break from their party to do what is best for the area that they represent…
“Democracy only works if citizens are informed and they vote, and over the last number of decades we’re seeing fewer and fewer people vote and as we’re seeing down in the states, fewer and fewer people are informed about what is actually going on.  People tend to treat government and politics like it isn’t part of their life when it actually is.  Everything about their life, it structures the way that they live from day to day, it structures their healthcare system, their education system.  As we’re seeing in this COVID pandemic, how you’re taken care of in your elder years, they’re all political decisions.”