Update: After
meeting with Rob Ford and the bureaucrats, the parade is back on on a different route.
With less than a month to go before the parade expected to draw thousands of participants, Toronto bureaucrats told the organizers of the annual event that it could not be held. Although excuses were given, there is no other logical explanation other than the cancellation of the event, held without incident for the past 14 years, was nothing more than Christian-bashing.
According to Canada Christian College principal Charles McVety, one of the organizers of the annual event, a permit to hold the Jesus parade was applied for back on Feb. 22. It was only a few days ago, less than a month before the scheduled Sept. 6 event, that the city advised they were cancelling permission for the parade. The main reason given was that the planned route on Queens Park Circle was going to be under construction. Too bad, so sad.
The annual parade draws out-of-town visitors, many of whom have already made travel plans to attend the now cancelled event. And according to McVety, two people have been working on parade full time since the last one was held.
There was absolutely no attempt by the close-minded overpaid bureaucrats to come up with another venue in the city where the event can be held. Why bother; they’re only Christians.
It is often joked there are only two seasons in Toronto; winter and construction. There is construction taking place on several main arteries throughout the city but other parades and events are allowed to take place.
Death to the Jews! Death to Israel! No problem but we can’t let these Jesus freaks march in Canada’s largest city
The annual dyke march and gay pride parade takes place in June. No one would dare cancel that. And streets are blocked in August for the annual Caribbean festival that can always be counted on to provide a stabbing and a shooting or two. That event would never be cancelled.
The Jesus parade could not have been cancelled because it is a religious event. In late July, the city gave permission to close streets so Muslims could celebrate Al Quds day. At this year’s event, speeches were made calling for, what else, the destruction of Israel. One man, in heavily accented English, yelled to counter-demonstrators across the street that they should go back to where they came from: Germany, so they can finish the job.
And this year’s Al Quds saw a man, dressed in a Toronto Transit Commission janitor’s uniform, yelling “Death to Israel.” Unlike many who are unknowingly caught on a cellphone video, this guy yelled his hate into a
Sun News microphone.
Death to the Jews! Death to Israel! No problem but we can’t let these Jesus freaks march in Canada’s largest city.
McVety told
Sun News that when the bureaucrats realized their construction excuse wasn’t being bought, they then claimed there was too much garbage that needed cleaning up after last year’s event. Of course there has to be a cleanup after every demonstration or parade so that excuse seems to be a last ditch effort to justify pulling the permit simply because the participants are Christians. At least city employees would not have to work overtime washing away blood after the Jesus parade finishes.
In addition to events such as the pride parade and Al Quds, many main streets are closed down every weekend during the summer for various ethnic festivals. These closures, coupled with construction, make it extremely difficult to get around the city during these weekends. But all this is perfectly acceptable as long as the participants are not Christians.
Not surprisingly,
Sun News was the only mainstream media to cover the cancellation of the permit for the Jesus parade. When Toronto Mayor Rob Ford read about it in the Sun, he said he wanted the parade back on and will do what he can to find another venue to hold it.
While readers outside of Toronto who know nothing about Ford other than what they have seen on
Jimmy Kimmel Live may think the mayor is just playing politics, those who know him or follow Toronto politics closely know he is sincere. It is not surprising a Forum Research poll released yesterday shows the most famous local politician in the history of the world in second place, three points behind John Tory, in the lead up to the Oct.27 election.
Perhaps the organizers of the Jesus parade should consider holding their event in upcoming years in one of the areas just outside Toronto where a municipal government will appreciate an influx of people into the area and the money they will spend.
If the organizers are insistent in holding the event in Toronto they could always agree to march in the parade nude or carry “Death to Israel!” signs. That should do it for the city once known as 'Toronto the Good'.
