In his most recent grandstanding effort, Coun. Morgan Nagel decided to take a stab at divisive politics by announcing his desire to save a statue of Sir John A. MacDonald and bring it to Cochrane. Thankfully, the City of Victoria put a stop to Nagel's ridiculous political showmanship by announcing it would not be giving the statue away – Nagel's pronouncement was echoed in Ontario by members of the PC Party. Nagel's idea was completely tone deaf and without sensitivity. It showed he has little regard for our Morley neighbours to the west and thinks divisive identity politics is the way to win the game. Yet another politician who doesn't care about community building, just the number of votes he can collect. Even if we put the political correctness argument aside, Nagel, who is campaigning for his UCP job while pulling a paycheque from the taxpayer for a job he will walk away from if nominated, had the gall to say he would ask council to pay the shipping costs to bring the bronze here. Really? Cochrane has raised taxes in back-to-back years. The sports centre was millions over budget, and the restaurant space inside remains empty. Transit is coming. We are working on massive road and infrastructure deficits from our massive growth, as Nagel likes to remind us. However, despite that list that only includes a few things this town needs to spend money on, Nagel, who is constantly preaching fiscal responsibility, thinks Cochranites should fork over the money for a bronze statue in Victoria. Nagel's argument about destroying history is a farce by the way. Victoria has no intention of destroying the statue, the city just wants to put in a more suitable location than in front of city hall – a place that should be reserved for those a community wishes to honour. He is right, as are many, that we should not be destroying the connection to our history and while our first Prime Minister might have been instrumental in the formation of what makes this country great, he was also part of the root of racism that is still buried deep in our societal fabric. The argument that it was different times with a different moral code is deflection and morally ambiguous. Our society casts words and images away all the time when we evolve to the understand the damage they cause to people. In fact, so inappropriate are those examples these days, listing them here would bring the torches and pitch forks to our steps. Victoria should absolutely keep the statue on display, just not in front of city hall. MacDonald's likeness should also remain on Parliament Hill as he was a founder of this nation. However, in Ottawa, as whereever the statue ends up in Victoria, the plaque should ensure to educate people on both our first prime minister's achievements to build this nation as well as his crimes against its people. The same should be done for school curriculum. No. We should not be erasing our history, it contains important lessons. However, we must recognize our history is not all sunshine and rainbows and if we are going to mend the damage it caused, we can't continue to put the purveyors of that harm in places of honour. Museums or perhaps educational walkways in parks to ensure accessibility, would be more appropriate.
