Police were attacked, cars burned, buildings smashed, fires lit, and calls for revolution and to globalise the intifada.

As you might expect, it was the usual suspects: Pro-Palestinian groups, supporters of terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Marxist radicals, anti-capitalists, anti-NATO activists, and other revolutionaries and anarchists.

Perhaps because of who these protesters were, there was little to no coverage in mainstream media.

Whether such violence by these groups has become normalised so that politicians and media ignore them is hard to know.

What is obvious is a degree of complicity to not put the spotlight on these groups.

While a grab bag of dissidents, they all share a similar aim - the destruction of the West, it's Judeo-Christian values, and the rights and freedoms we have come to cherish.

Add to this a strong dose of antisemitism and you have quite the cocktail.

These are not simply my impressions - these are represented by the words of the protestors themselves, explicitly calling for the destruction of Canada, of the United States, and the Jews and Israel.

Now you would think it would be good for media to shed some light on these people - some who appear to have fled their home countries but thought, for good measure, to bring the violence with them.

But again, no.

There seems to be an increasing inability for politicians and media to focus on who these people are, the beliefs behind them, or what they aim to achieve.

Not only a Canadian problem

In New Zealand, we have the same groups here, and while we have not yet seen this level of violence, the same mindsets prevail.

It is also supported by woke commentators such as Max Harris who wrote recently in The Post of Hezbollah (an indisputable terrorist group) as a legitimate parliamentary party and social service provider in Lebanon.

This has come as quite a surprise to various Lebanese and Iranian friends of mine, as well as to anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of foreign affairs.

As these friends and others have pointed out, The Post has not accepted any rebuttal to such an egregious and biased opinion piece.

Not only do we have to contend with such unbalanced opinion pieces, but also to have events that do not support the narrative (such as violent riots in Montreal) being ignored.

More positively, the response from Canada's Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, has been 100% spot on.

He also rightly targets Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who, while Montreal burned, danced away at a Taylor Swift concert and again finds it near impossible to call out the ‘who' involved. Pierre writes:

You [Justin Trudeau] 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.

• Simon O'Connor works for Family First and writes a regular blog on Substack.
• Republished with permission.

National's socially conservative MPs have gone to ground after MP Simon O'Connor was forced to take down social media posts which leader Christopher Luxon has called "triumphalist" and causing offence.

"As I understand it, there is no party position on these conscience issues. It is purely an individual position that caucus members take.

"And you will see, a number of [current MPs] voted against this, like myself (sic) when I was there."

The US Supreme Court decision on Friday to overturn Roe v Wade and allow states to ban abortions has raised conversations here, particularly given Luxon is himself an Evangelical Christian opposed to the right to an abortion. Read more

National MP Simon O'Connor is chair of the Health Select Committee, which is considering the issue in response to a petition by former MP Maryan Street and others.

Mr O'Connor once studied for the priesthood with the Society of Mary.

He has made his opposition to legalisation of assisted suicide known.

The New Zealand Herald reported that ACT MP David Seymour is calling for Mr O'Connor to step down as inquiry chairman, because he believes the Tamaki MP is too partisan on the issue.

Last year, Mr Seymour launched a private members bill that would legalise voluntary euthanasia.

Labour and Green MPs backed Mr O'Connor's fairness and impartiality as chair.

Mr O'Connor rejected calls to step aside and said the outcome of the inquiry was not a foregone conclusion.

"I can hold a personal view but also run a committee in a way that is . . . professional," he said.

In an interview last year with NZ Catholic, Mr O'Connor defended his chairing the inquiry.

"As chair of the committee, my role is to ensure that a fair and open process is followed. This is something I can and am rightly doing.

"In fact, I think it is very clear from the way the investigation has been structured, the time given to make submissions, the courtesy extended to the petitioners and others, are all indications that the committee is being chaired in a fair and appropriate way.

"Having said that, I would like to stress that being an impartial chair does not necessitate putting aside one's own views.

"I think any inquiry is bound to be of a better standard when its members have a keen interest in the subject.

"Everyone is going to get a chance to be heard through this inquiry.

"I will agree with some people and disagree with others, but that's the nature of democracy. There will be a big conversation and we will try to understand the issue better."

There has also been criticism of the terms of reference of the inquiry, in that the topic under consideration is too broad, rather than the focus being on assisted dying alone.

Mr O'Connor said the committee members unanimously agreed on the terms of reference, after a robust debate.

Sources

• New Zealand Herald
• Parliament.govt.nz
• Stuff.co.nz
• Parliament.govt.nz
• NZ Catholic
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

Tamaki MP Simon O'Connor proposed to Rachel Trimble earlier this year.

She is the sister of Transport Minister Simon Bridges.

Mr O'Connor is 10 years younger than Ms Trimble.

Referring to his days in the seminary and his decision not to proceed to ordination, Mr O'Connor, 39, said "I'm still a man who has beliefs, but it's not a big part of who I am."

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