Ceremonial tasering caps an odd week

January 26, 2008
Les Leyne, Times Colonist

A stock market collapse, some curious musings by the premier from afar and a rock 'em-sock 'em vice-regal visit. It was a curious week for B.C. Do we know how to show visiting dignitaries a good time, or what? Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean dropped by Vancouver with the express intention of experiencing the gritty underside.

The gritty underside rose to the occasion. People yelled at her, swore at her and conducted obscene tirades in the background during one of her appearances on the Downtown Eastside.

The grand finale couldn't have been more representative of B.C. It was the ceremonial Tasering of an agitated man in the middle of the street directly outside the window of the building where she was speaking.

B.C. has an international reputation for Tasering people, courtesy of the Robert Dziekanski debacle at Vancouver airport last year.

So the drama played out at curbside -- city cops piling on a profanity-spewing protester and subduing him with a Taser -- had the feel of one of those traditional ceremonies that the locals stage when visiting royalty arrives.

In the North, they stage a blanket toss when the guv comes calling. In the Maritimes, a fiddling contest. In B.C., we Taser someone.

Now she has a taste for what it's like out here on the wild frontier.

The rest of the story wasn't related to tasers so I have not included it here.