No place for violence
Editorial

The fact that a man was attacked outside his home last week and punched in the face is both nauseating and unacceptable.

The fact that it happened in Caledon should be upsetting to everyone who lives, works or plays in this municipality. And the fact that the victim was John Morrison, the husband of Mayor Marolyn Morrison, just makes things all the more shocking.

It's premature to speculate on the what motivated this attack, although the Mayor, with an obvious indication of understandable anger in her voice, made it clear she thinks development issues in Caledon were at the heart of incident.

Time will tell if that was or was not the case.

If it was, then whoever was responsible has sunk to a level of shame that is unimaginable.

Development issues have been a hot topic in Caledon for some time now, and for some people, it's a very emotional issue. That's not hard to accept. It's part of life and something we should all be able to get along with. It's fine for people to disagree. Indeed, it is to be encouraged in a free society. It's also permissible to get angry, reflecting the obvious fact that we are only human.

But a fist being applied to the face of a man outside his home is not to be tolerated, and if this attack was motivated because Marolyn Morrison maybe holds opinions that some people don't like, then we should all worry.

Wars have been fought by soldiers from this country to ensure that people are allowed to hold views that other may disagree with. The Mayor's own family has made contributions to the struggle to bring similar freedoms to Afghanistan. Why would such activity be tolerated in Canada?

The fact is it should not be tolerated, and we hope it won't be.

If people have a problem with the way Marolyn Morrison executes the office to which she was duly elected, then they are free to vote against her at the next election.

That's all they're entitled to do.