The student protest movement has been rife with hyperbole and misconstrued comparisons since its inception. Thus, it should in fact come as no surprise that the protesters have now taken to making links between the Montreal police and the Nazi regime. In a picture that went viral, students are shown to be giving the Nazi salute.
That deafening noise that Formula 1 fans in Montreal and viewers around the world hear this weekend might not be just the supercharged cars screaming past the grandstands in quest of the checkered flag. It will likely also be the banging of pots and pans by the tens of thousands of protestors filling the streets around the Grand Prix of Canada in order to publicize their fight with the Quebec government.
My ability to get to work and earn those dollars that my wife and I want to put aside for our kids' education is being directly threatened by the constant ebb and flow of student protests in Montreal. Some businesses downtown have laid off staff, cut back hours and simply don't pay employees who can't get to work because of a protest.
Protesters claim the new emergency law, Bill 78, is an infringement on their right of free assembly. Nonsense. I was involved in a series of marches a number of years ago in downtown Montreal, in which the organizers worked with police weeks in advance. This was out of concern for those who would be affected by these marches. These boycotters do not care what harm they cause others. Their attitude is "You have to respect my rights, but I don't have to respect yours."