Shortly after 17 men and boys, who will forever be remembered as young men from diverse backgrounds, were arrested in the GTa on terrorism-related charges, communications consultant Warren Kinsella came up with the idea to hold an event to show that Torontonians and Canadians are not afraid. The idea was based on a similar campaign that was held in Britain after the London transit system was attacked last year.
The event was first scheduled to take place next Sunday at the Rogers Centre when the Toronto Blue Jays will be playing the New York Mets. It was later rescheduled to July 23 when the Jays will host the New York Yankees. July 23 is also the day that Toronto Tourism will be holding what will likely become an annual event to boost tourism at the Rogers Centre and the two events will be combined.
It was a good idea to move the event from June 25. People who would want to go to the ballpark to show that they are not afraid might be deterred from going downtown because of the approximately one million unafraid people who will be lining the streets to watch the Gay Pride parade.
It's admirable to want to hold an event to help boost tourism in Canada's largest city — after all, tourism needs all the help that it can get. Tourism declined after the SaRS outbreak and Canada's refusal to enter the Iraq war, coupled with the anti-americanism that was spouted by the previously governing Liberals, did little to encourage americans to visit although visitors from other countries started coming back. and let's face it, with Toronto City Council's pride at leaving the homeless on the street and their hatred of the automobile, the city that once drew amazement for tourists over its cleanliness now boasts a dirty, congested downtown. Tourism needs a boost.
But there is no need for Torontonians to show that they are not afraid —because the reality is that the vast majority of Torontonians were never afraid of terrorism. We will see exactly how unafraid the city is when Gay Pride Week gets into full gear. and if the thousands of people in Italian, Portuguese and other ethnic neighbourhoods who took too the streets after World Cup matches are living in fear of a terrorist attack, they did an excellent job of hiding it.
There are undoubtedly some Torontonians who are afraid a being killed or seriously injured in a terrorist attack as there are no doubt some city residents who are afraid to walk down Yonge Street after the Boxing Day shootings that claimed the life of 15-year-old Jane Creba. But these people are about as rare as a Toronto city councillor who hates bicycle lanes.
Toronto is not London. The London transit system was actually attacked. People, especially those who take public transit but did not experience or witness the bombings know that they might have ended up as victims. The fear in London was real.
Not so in Toronto. People really don't want to accept the fact that the world around them is dangerous and thanks to the political correctness that permeates not only the politicians and the elites but the law enforcement agencies, the prime directive was to pretend that the alleged terrorist plot was no big deal. The best example was the statement of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. Fancying himself as an Islamic scholar as well as a cop, Blair told the assembled masses that the alleged attacks had nothing to do with Islam and bragged about how at his press conference to talk about the arrests, neither he nor any other official ever mentioned the word "Muslim" or "Islam". The most serious crime became not the alleged blowing up of the Toronto Stock Exchange or the office building that houses CSIS, but the vandalism that occurred at a Toronto mosque. The public has been constantly told that this alleged plot was simply an aberration by a bunch of young people who planned what they did for reasons unknown. and too many people, still holding onto the notion that multicultural and tolerant Canadians are just too nice for anyone to want to attack, eagerly lapped up this politically correct but totally unrealistic nonsense.
Shortly after the terrorist arrests, CFRB talk show host Bill Carroll said that the problem was not that too many of us are afraid; it is that we're not afraid enough.
Too bad we can't hold an event for that.
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