Montreal in chaos, Trudeau dances at the concert. Poilievre: “Call an election now. We will fire you”

by Marzio Pelù

TORONTO – While chaos reigned in Montreal (clashes with the police, smashed windows and cars set on fire), the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, was dancing and singing at Taylor Swift’s concert in Toronto, exchanging “friendship bracelets” with the young fans of the American artist. Images, those spread on the numerous videos published on social networks, strongly contrasting: on the one hand, a night of terror for the Canadians of Montreal; on the other, “a night like a teenager rather than a prime minister”, as many have written on social networks, for the head of the Canadian government.

In the streets of Montreal, violence broke out on Friday evening when some pro-Palestinian activists (as part of an anti-war demonstration, which had begun peacefully) clashed with police officers, breaking shop windows and setting fire to vehicles along the roads. Videos circulating on social media showed protesters waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “Israel is terrorist, Canada is complicit,” setting off smoke bombs (and three of them have been arrested, as Montreal CTV News reported too, here), but also damaging windows and cars.

In those same minutes, Justin Trudeau was filmed by hundreds, perhaps thousands of cell phones while he was dancing and singing wildly at the Taylor Swift concert at the Rogers Center in Toronto, where he was with his family. Also “Taylor Swift Updates” profile on Twitter X posted a video of the Prime Minister dancing (here below).   

It was already known that the prime minister was a fan of the singer-teen idol since July 2023, when with a post on Twitter X officially and publicly asked her to extend her “Eras” tour to Canada too. And when Swift actually arrived in Toronto for a series of dates, a week ago Trudeau himself posted – again on Twitter X – a message of appreciation. Thus, on Friday, while Montreal was “burning”, Trudeau was at the long-awaited event, in which he participated with evident enthusiasm (the videos leave no room for doubt) despite what was happening in Montreal where the first violence began around 6pm Friday (Taylor Swift concert in Toronto started at 7pm).

The next day, Trudeau posted on Twitter X: “What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling. Acts of antisemitism, intimidation, and violence must be condemned wherever we see them. The RCMP are in communication with local police. There must be consequences, and rioters held accountable. with the local police. There must be consequences and the rioters must be held accountable”.

The leader of the conservative opposition, Pierre Poilievre, responded – among others – to his post: “You act surprised. We are reaping what you sowed. This is what happens when a Prime Minister spends 9 years pushing toxic woke identity politics, dividing and subdividing people by race, gender, vaccine status, religion, region, age, wealth, etc. On top of driving people apart, you systematically break what used to bring us together, saying Canada is a “post-national state” with “no core identity.” You erased our veterans and military, the Famous Five and even Terry Fox from our passport to replace them with meaningless squirrels, snowflakes and a drawing of yourself swimming as a boy. You opened the borders to terrorists and lawbreakers and called anyone who questioned it racist. You send out your MPs to say one thing in a mosque and the opposite in a synagogue, one thing in a mandir and the opposite in a gurdwara. You have made Canada a playground for foreign interference. You allowed Iran’s IRGC terrorists to legally operate here for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens in a major unprovoked attack. You passed laws that release rampant offenders from prison within hours of their 80th arrest. And what is the result? Assassinations on Canadian soil, firebombings of synagogues, extremist violence against mandirs and gurdwaras, over 100 churches burned or vandalized (with barely any condemnation from you), all for a total 251% more hate crime. And, while you were dancing, Montreal was burning. We won’t let you divide us anymore. Call an election now. We will fire you and reclaim our citizenship, our values, our lives, our freedom and, most of all, our country”.