LILLEY: Ford jumps on contentious keffiyeh issue with both feet
Ford takes sides on ruling by Speaker that upholds longstanding rules and traditions.
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It’s hard to know what Doug Ford was thinking on Wednesday night, or if he was thinking at all.
Just around 9 p.m., Ford issued a statement calling on Ted Arnott, the Speaker of the Legislature, to reverse his decision that bans the wearing of keffiyehs at Queen’s Park.
“I do not support his decision as it needlessly divides the people of our province. I call on the Speaker to reverse his decision immediately,” Ford said.
Ford, with much pressure from his top advisors, has been trying not to comment much lately on anything to do with the war in the Middle East or its ramifications here. With that statement, he jumped in with both feet and picked a side, something that is getting noticed.
The reason that Arnott issued the ban is to uphold long-standing rules against the use of props, including clothing or anything added to your clothing that makes a political statement. In the current context, wearing a keffiyeh is a political statement, something those wearing them to rallies across the country, or in legislatures, would certainly agree with.
They are being worn to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“The Speaker cannot be aware of the meaning of every symbol or pattern but when items are drawn to my attention, there is a responsibility to respond,” Arnott said in an email to MPPs on Wednesday. “After extensive research, I concluded that the wearing of keffiyehs at the present time in our Assembly is intended to be a political statement. So, as Speaker, I cannot authorize the wearing of keffiyehs based on our longstanding conventions.”
These are the same rules that require MPPs to seek permission of the House to wear the hockey jersey of their local junior team to show support during a playoff run. If hockey jerseys are deemed too political, surely the same can be said of the keffiyeh in the current context.
There can be no doubt that keffiyehs are an overt political statement, used to show solidarity with the Palestinian people, especially since Oct. 7. The organizers of the rallies that have overtaken the streets of Toronto since the start of the war have often encouraged participants to ensure they bring their keffiyehs.
Why?
Because it is a political statement.
The Speaker would not allow a member to take their seat if they were wearing a MAGA hat or a shirt that said “Bring them home now” in relation to Israeli hostages.
The rules may seem unfair to some, bigoted to others but they have been put in place and upheld to encourage civil debate in contentious times. While we think our politics is divisive now, it’s important to remember that traditionally government and opposition benches are kept at least 13 feet — or two sword lengths — apart, though in Ontario the distance is much wider.
If Ford and the opposition leaders want to allow people to wear a keffiyeh then they can change the rules. That would also end up allowing other overtly political statements to be made, something I doubt they want to happen.
A motion Thursday morning from NDP Leader Marit Stiles for unanimous consent to acknowledge the keffiyeh as a culturally significant clothing item in Palestinian, Muslim and Arab communities that should be allowed in the House failed when at least one person from the PC government’s side said no.
All Ford had to do on this matter was correctly and plainly say that this was not his decision or one of his government and that rules and procedures of the legislature are handled by the Speaker. By taking the stance that he has, Ford is alienating all sides and not making anyone happy, a tactic that has failed for Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.
Muslim voters who have this as their driving issue won’t be swayed by Ford’s statement to come to his side. Meanwhile, Jewish voters who feel Ford has been slow, or even silent after incidents of anti-Semitism, are noting how quick he was to speak out on this issue.
Ford and his team likely thought they had a winner of a statement on Wednesday night. Things look much different in the light of day.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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