While a demonstration by Ontario farmers was held at Queen’s Park last week, a more dramatic event unfolded just off to the side. Fifty year old anh Ngoc Vuong appeared in a rental van on Queen’s Park Circle. He drove the van slowly back and forth while yelling at police, poured gasoline on himself and threatened to set himself on fire. When his driving became more erratic, at one time backing into a snow bank and forcing a cameraman to jump out of the way, the police moved in. When two police cars boxed him in, Vuong followed through on this threat and set himself on fire.
If there was anything stranger that day that the self-immolation that was broadcast live on television was the fact that there were so many people around that day. Present at the scene were firefighters, emergency service personnel, police including the Emergency Task Force, reporters and cameramen. If all those people had one thing in common it was that they defied the "advice" of the Ontario Provincial Police and went to work that morning.
The demonstration was organized by the Lanark Landowners association who had planned to arrive at the legislature grounds by tractor. The organization had announced in advance that convoys of tractors would approach Toronto from three directions before making their way to the demonstration. The tractors would be travelling at a rate of approximately 15 km/hr and would therefore cause chaos on the city’s streets and surrounding highways.
In response to the plans that were announced by the farmers’ group, Peter Burns, the superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police was quoted as saying, "If you don’t have to work, stay home. If I were driving to the heart of the city during rush hour, I would look at taking an alternate route or taking the day off. It’s going to be ugly".
Don’t go to work. at least the people who were instrumental in preventing anh Ngoc Vuong from causing more damage than he did paid the attention the warning not to go to work deserved and went to work anyway.
What would possess a high ranking police officer to attempt to close down and disrupt the city to a greater extent than the actions of the farmers were already going to do? Well, if someone was cynical they might believe that the police were doing the bidding of their political masters. Unlike teachers and health care workers who occasionally bring their grievances to the grounds of the legislature, Ontario farmers are not important to Dalton McGuinty’s government like those of the unionized persuasion are. The government, as well as the mainstream media had no sympathy for farmers in general or the Lanark Landowners association in particular who they view as a somewhat radical group. Given how the government views them, it would be in their best interests to attempt to close down the city and then blame the group. The silly request of the OPP to avoid work if possible would have certainly aided the Liberal government’s agenda.
Then again, the "warning" to avoid Toronto’s streets and highways could have just been given to make the day easier for the police. The less people that were on the roads, the less the work the police had to do. all the talk about accidents by crazed motorists and incidents of road rage at the crawling tractors never did materialize. Did anyone really think that it would? Perhaps the OPP should get a new motto: "Support your local police — make our lives easier and stay home!"
The Lanark Landowners association announced well in advance what routes each of the convoys would take as well as the times that they would be leaving and these facts were clearly publicized by the media. anyone who wanted to avoid this so-called chaotic situation, as many drivers did, could simply leave for work earlier or take different routes. actually many people did just that. There was absolutely no need for people to stay home from work while the farmers were protesting.
The next time the OPP tell people to avoid the roads because of weather conditions or some other such reason, their warnings should be taken with a grain of salt. The force is clearly lacking in the credibility department.
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