Residents of an eastern Ontario town are upset after their mayor refused to lower flags to half-mast in honour of the sixteen people killed in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash earlier this month.
On Friday, a group of citizens took it upon themselves to lower at least one of the townâs flags, which flies outside of a community centre.
Mississippi Mills resident Kevin McCartney says he couldnât believe the flags hadnât been lowered in his town, a move that was made by other municipalities including Ottawa and Barrie, Ont.
âIâm just embarrassed,â McCartney told CTV Ottawaâs Annie Bergeron-Oliver.
âWeâre finally getting it right,â he added, referring to the flag lowered by residents.
âBut itâs the people who are getting it right,â he said. âNot the government.â
Mayor Shaun McLaughlin declined an interview but that the âterrible tragedyâ did not fit town policy for lowering flags.
âThe flag policyâwhich the mayor cannot arbitrarily changeâexists so that we have scope,â McLaughlin wrote.
âIf not, how would we know what calamities to respond to?â he added.
âThe day after the Saskatchewan catastrophe, 23 schoolchildren died in a bus crash in India,â the mayor wrote. âShould we lower the flag for them?â
McLaughlin went on to say that a blog post expressing outrage about the decision was a âblatant partisan communicationâ from a âgroup of perennial complainers.â
He also pointed out that the local county and other nearby towns did not lower flags. âOur illustrious cabal of complainers never mentioned that,â McLaughlin wrote. âAnother sign it's all partisan.â
With a report from CTV Ottawaâs Annie Bergeron-Oliver