An old aunt used the phrase, “Well, it’s just common courtesy” one day. The exact circumstance for using it escapes us now but the expression stuck.
Common courtesy is a combination of good manners, being polite, respecting authority and respecting institutions.
Each of those actions are challenging, particularly when the person or institution garnering respect might have a different take on what constitutes courtesy.
That came to mind when News broke a couple of weeks ago that a 21-year-old senate page chose to protest with a “Stop Harper” sign during the Throne Speech ceremony. Brigette DePape, from Manitoba, was escorted out of the chamber quickly and lost her job almost as fast.
Reaction, of course, has been mixed.
Some found it funny, while others viewed it as a heroic and brave act of civil disobedience. Comment pages on the CBC are rife with compliments and words of support. Those outraged by the act found her protest in very poor taste; an obvious affront to her sworn duties as a page and a slap in the face to one of the country’s most important institutions, let alone important events.
While we have every respect for those who champion freedom of expression, there is a time and place for everything. To purposely tarnish a somewhat regal event speaks to an absence of common courtesy.
Not everyone will be happy with an electoral result, but the will of voters under our present system must be respected if democracy is to function.
But there is more. After her five minutes of fame, Ms. DePape, released this statement: “This country needs a Canadian version of an Arab Spring, a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with [Stephen] Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, neighbourhoods and workplaces.” That was cited in the Globe and Mail.
Ah, an Arab Spring – it does sound romantic, but the events there are far from it.
For a university graduate to attempt to draw a parallel between the Middle East uprisings and Canadian politics, it has to be said the foundation of this country is in more trouble than many would assume. It’s incredible – not just that a student could make such a leap in thought, but that people actually clamoured to her defence.
Ontario Conservative Senator David Tkachuk addressed the title of hero given DePape by her admirers in a News release from his office, as printed in the Toronto Star.
As for her being proclaimed a hero, he said, “No. Heroic are the men and women, many of them her age or younger, who serve in Afghanistan, defending the principles and practices of democracy that resulted, most recently, in the election we just had. What she did was not heroic. She was surrounded not by enemies but by people she could trust not to harm her. People, unlike her, who believe in and adhere to a code of civil behaviour.”
Civil behaviour, honouring an oath, doing a job well – it’s all part of participating in democracy and living in a functioning society.
She has since written a column in the Star bemoaning the error of Harper’s ways. Bills were being passed that she did not agree with. The indisputable fact that roughly 60% of Canadians did not vote for Harper has DePape suggesting that somehow democracy is broken and civil disobedience is the just dessert for that electoral inequity – regardless of the fact Harper did win.
Common courtesy goes a long way. Regrettably, it is uncommon in too many circles today.
