LILLEY: Progressive left supports bubble-zone laws for abortions, so why not Jews?

Article content

Canada’s so-called progressive left wants to protect abortion clinics from protests, but not places of worship, schools or daycare centres.

That’s what we can glean from the opposition by lefty councillors and Progress Toronto – a.k.a Mayor Olivia Chow’s shadow government – to the proposed bubble-zone bylaw.

The proposal before council is weak at best, but still too much for Progress Toronto, the far-left group that helped elect Chow and many of her allies on council. This shadowy group that holds far too much sway at City Hall is denouncing the proposed bylaw as “(Donald) Trump like” and an attack on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“City council will vote on a bylaw that would limit our charter-protected freedom to protest in the coming days,” Progress Toronto said on its website.

They encourage members to make their voices heard. This isn’t a small campaign for the professional lobby group; they are going all out on this issue.

Which is kind of strange because such limits on “our charter-protected freedom to protest” already exist in Toronto and across Ontario. It’s just that those limits, enshrined in provincial law, limit the right to protest something that Progress Toronto undoubtedly supports.

I’m talking about abortion.

It’s illegal in this province to protest outside of an abortion clinic and has been for years. A decade ago, my late colleague Christie Blatchford profiled Linda Gibbons, a then-67 year-old woman who had spent more than a decade in prison for silent protests outside of abortion clinics in Toronto.

Gibbons did more time than hardened and serious criminals for holding a sign and walking silently outside of various Toronto abortion clinics. Her time in jail was backed by a court injunction dating to 1989.

Still, the Ontario Legislative Assembly in October 2017 passed a law proposed by then Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne making it illegal to protest within as little as 50 metres but also up to 150 metres of an abortion clinic. There was no outcry from the “progressive” left in Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario. In fact, they welcomed the new redundant, law as proof that they were morally right on the issue of abortion.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Today, as Toronto city council considers a less than stellar bylaw that would stop protests within 20 metres of schools, childcare centres and places of worship, the so-called “progressive left” is losing its collective mind. While they are happy to let grannies spend a decade in jail for protesting abortion, they oppose bubble-zone laws around places of worship seemingly because the places of worship being targeted at the moment are Jewish.

If the places of worship being targeted were suddenly Muslim, you know Progress Toronto and much of the mainstream media would be clamouring for such a law or bylaw to be passed and strictly enforced. But when it comes to Jewish worshippers, Canada’s progressive politicians and activists seem to be willing to let them suffer.

As a society, we should say no and pass an even better bylaw — or better yet, we should have this issue taken up by Premier Doug Ford at Queen’s Park and made a provincial matter. The Ford government and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner have been incredibly weak on this front.

If we are going to accept limits on protests at certain locations — and we have been willing to for more than three decades around abortion clinics — then we should extend that. None of us should be accepting of angry mobs showing up at schools, daycares or places of worship – be they synagogues, churches, mosques or gurdwaras – to try to intimidate those showing up.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, this has been a regular occurrence and unfortunately the main victims have been our Jewish brothers and sisters. If city council can’t pass even their weak bylaw, then they should admit that they have no moral backbone, that they support or oppose decisions based on politics and that effectively Jews aren’t welcome in Toronto any longer.

Because if they can’t do the bare minimum, then that is the message they are sending even if those aren’t the words they use.